29 Aug 2011: CESSNA 172F

29 Aug 2011: CESSNA 172F — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Atlanta, ID, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s misjudgment of his final approach path. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s inadequate preflight planning.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

According to the pilot, on short final approach to runway 34 in his 145-horsepower Cessna 172F, he realized that his approach path was too high, so he attempted to go around. After full engine power was applied, he recognized that he had insufficient distance from the approaching trees and terrain to perform a go-around. Therefore, he aborted the maneuver and forced the airplane onto the ground in a clearing beyond the departure end of the runway. The airplane impacted the ground hard, breaking wing and fuselage structure. The pilot reported to the National Transportation Safety Board investigator that he was unfamiliar with the airport, and he had not read the Federal Aviation Administration’s published remarks for the airport in its Airport Facility Directory. The remarks state, in pertinent part, that the airport is recommended for use by “mountain proficient pilots using high performance aircraft.” It also states “no go-around due to rising terrain and trees.” Nine thousand foot mountains are located within 5 miles from northwest through southeast of the 5,500-foot mean sea level airport.

Contributing factors

  • cause Altitude — Not attained/maintained
  • factor Pilot
  • Pilot
  • Contributed to outcome
  • cause Capability exceeded
  • cause Climb rate — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Descent/approach/glide path — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.