WPR26FA354

On September 23, 2026, about 1711 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172B, N44P, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Royal City, Washington. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the pilot’s family, he departed from a private airstrip on his property at about 1630. Shortly thereafter, a worker at a farm located near B & G Farms Airport (4WA0), Royal City, Washington, saw the airplane land on runway 7. The worker periodically turned his attention to the airplane and saw it back-taxi to the approach end of runway 7 and stand with the engine running for about 20 minutes. The witness saw the airplane taxi in one or two circles before it lined up with runway 7 and began its departure roll. The airplane’s takeoff appeared normal until it rotated into a nose high pitch attitude as it passed a building located alongside the runway. The airplane began to climb steeply, yawed left, and overflew a road and residence. The airplane then rolled to the left, its nose dropped, and it subsequently impacted a farm field about 450 ft north of the runway. (See figure.) The witness stated he could hear the airplane’s engine running during the entire flight without any irregularities or changes in tone. Figure: A depiction of airplane’s flight path, as described by the witness. The airplane came to rest inverted on an approximate magnetic heading of 070°. The first identified point of impact was a divot in soft mud that contained fragments of the landing and taxi light lens from the left wing. The left wing was crushed aft outboard of the lift strut, and mud had adhered to the leading edge. The right wing leading edge was crushed aft. Both flaps appeared to be in the retracted position. The engine, engine mount, and firewall were displaced aft. The pilot’s seat was separated from the seat rails and the seat pins were bent. The seat rails were partially separated from the floor, and one seat rail was bent around the seat base roller assembly. The wreckage was retained for further examination.