Cessna 172E accident near Decorah, IA
On August 22, 2004, a Cessna 172E (airplane) was involved in an accident near Decorah, IA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 22, 2004
- Place
- Decorah, IA
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172E · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 1 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 43.354°N, 91.767°W
- NTSB ID
- 20040826X01294
Official records · CHI04FA234
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On August 22, 2004, about 1335 central daylight time, a Cessna 172E, N5410T, piloted by a private pilot, was destroyed when it impacted the ground about 5 statute miles north of the Decorah Municipal Airport (DEH), Decorah, Iowa. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions on a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan. The pilot was seriously injured. The two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane had departed DEH just prior to the accident and was en route to Isle, Minnesota. In a written report, the pilot stated that he remembered performing a pre-flight inspection and run-up of the airplane. He stated that he had no recollection of the accident flight subsequent to announcing his intention to takeoff on the radio. The pilot made no mention of any discrepancies detected during the pre-flight inspection or the run-up. A witness reported that he was at DEH working in his hangar at the east end of the runway when he heard an aircraft back-taxi for runway 29. He stated that the airplane was "an older Cessna 172, red and white in color." The witness stated that he heard the run-up check of this airplane and noticed that the run-up seemed unusual because "it sounded like the pilot was cycling through a constant speed propeller as the RPM was not the sound of the normal 1,700 RPM magneto and carburetor heat run-up check that a typical Cessna 172 should be expected to make." He stated that the rpm drop seemed very high in comparison to the allowable rpm drop. The witness stated that he saw the takeoff. Based on his ex
Probable cause
The pilot's intentional operation of the airplane with a defective magneto, his failure to abort the takeoff due to degraded aircraft performance, and his failure to obtain or maintain airspeed which resulted in a stall/spin and subsequent impact with the ground. Contributing factors were the improper installation of the magneto's contact points by unknown entities due to undertorque of the mounti
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Browse: Iowa · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
