No fatalities

CESSNA 172 S accident at New Castle, DE, 29 Jan 2026

New Castle, DE, United States

On January 29, 2026, a CESSNA 172 S operated by Infinity Flight Group was involved in an aviation accident near New Castle, DE. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The pilots’ failure to properly identify the assigned runway during the landing approach, which resulted in the airplane landing on a closed, snow-covered runway. Contributing was the illumination of the closed runway’s edge lighting. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 14 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.

SourcesNTSBPrimary reportUpdated 2026-08-03Data APIEditorial standards

Probable cause

The pilots’ failure to properly identify the assigned runway during the landing approach, which resulted in the airplane landing on a closed, snow-covered runway. Contributing was the illumination of the closed runway’s edge lighting.

— NTSB Determination

Contributing factors

PilotEffect on personnelEffect on operation