21 May 2009: CESSNA 172N

21 May 2009: CESSNA 172N — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Tunkhannock, PA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to attain the proper touchdown point while landing with a tailwind.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

According to the pilot, he checked the wind sock, then flew a "standard" traffic pattern at a final approach speed of 70 knots and 20-degrees flaps. He subsequently landed the airplane on runway 1, a 2,007-foot runway, “a few hundred feet past the threshold,” and it "seem[ed] as though [he] had a wind shift which became a tailwind." The pilot's subsequent application of brakes did not slow the airplane and during an attempt to turn off the runway, the airplane "would not steer." The airplane overran the end of the runway, went down a 10-foot embankment, nosed over, and sustained damage to the vertical stabilizer and left wing. Winds, recorded at an airport 15 miles to the southeast about the time of the accident, were from 230 degrees true at 9 knots. The pilot did not report any mechanical anomalies with the airplane.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • Effect on equipment

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 230/09kt, vis 10sm

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