15 Aug 2015: CESSNA 172C — Skipper R. Smith

15 Aug 2015: CESSNA 172C (N1805Y) — Skipper R. Smith

No fatalities • Venice, LA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to attain a safe landing approach airspeed with a crosswind.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On August 15, 2015, about 1130 central daylight time a Cessna 172C, N1805Y, nosed down after touching down on a soggy portion of the runway at Port Eads Airstrip, Venice, Louisiana. The pilot and two passengers received minor injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The cross-country flight originated Diamondhead, Mississippi, about 1030 and was destined for Port Eads.In his accident report, the pilot said while he was on landing approach with 20 degrees of flaps, 60 miles per hour indicated airspeed, and a 200 feet per minute rate of descent, he said he saw a small [rain] squall two miles south of the airstrip producing a light to moderate crosswind. Just before entering ground effect, he noticed a drop in airspeed and he applied full power. The airplane touched down at the lower end of the runway which was soggy. The nose gear sank in the soft ground and the airplane slid to a stop. Post-accident examination has revealed a damaged wing spar and buckled firewall. The pilot's written statement given to the Federal Aviation Administration corroborated his accident report.

Contributing factors

  • cause Airspeed — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Effect on operation
  • Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 050/10kt, vis 20sm

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.