27 May 2012: CESSNA 172S — Westwind Aviation

27 May 2012: CESSNA 172S — Westwind Aviation

No fatalities • Page, AZ, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing flare.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot was at the airplane controls during the landing approach. Another private pilot was present, and acting in the capacity of a safety/lookout. The pilot held the airplane in a yaw during the landing approach, while the safety pilot looked through the rear window in order to monitor another airplane, which was just behind them. The safety pilot became concerned that the airplane behind was flying too close, and watched as it overflew their position during the flare. He then looked forward and noticed that the airplane was still in a yaw condition, and not aligned with the runway centerline. The pilot attempted to correct the yaw during the flare, but landed in a side load condition on the left main landing gear, and the airplane subsequently veered off the runway. The safety pilot attempted to take control of the airplane, but it continued into the ramp area and collided with two parked aircraft. The airplane and one of the parked aircraft sustained substantial damage during the accident sequence. The pilots reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

Contributing factors

  • cause Directional control — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 000/05kt, 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.