Cessna 172M accident near Escalante, UT
On October 25, 2006, a Cessna 172M (airplane) was involved in an accident near Escalante, UT. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- October 25, 2006
- Place
- Escalante, UT
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172M · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 37.535°N, 111.188°W
- NTSB ID
- 20061109X01635
Official records · SEA07FA012
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On October 24, 2006, at 1958 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N9179D, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near Escalante, Utah. The instrument rated commercial pilot, the sole occupant on board, was fatally injured. Desert Wind Air Service LLC, in Mesa, Arizona, was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the beginning of the flight. The last hour of the flight was flown over very sparsely populated terrain, most of which was the 1.98 million acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The flight was a dark night positioning cross-country flight, which had originated 2 hours, 51 minutes before the accident. The pilot was flying with an opened visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan. The pilot filed a VFR flight plan and got a weather update at 1216 on the day of the accident. He was planning to fly from Falcon Field Airport (FFZ), Mesa, Arizona, to Provo Municipal Airport (PVU), Provo, Utah, with a departure at 1600. The great circle distance was 406 nautical miles (nm). The pilot said that the flight would be 4 hours and 45 minutes in length, and he had 6 hours and 44 minutes of fuel on board. He was planning to fly at 9,500 feet, with a fuel stop at Page, Arizona. The operator reported that maintenance was being performed on the airplane until late afternoon on the day of the accident. Air Traffic Control records for Falcon Field Airport tower indicated that the pilot was cleared for takeoff at 1706. Prescott Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) records indicated that the pilot ope
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. Contributing factors were the pilot's lack of experience of flying on instruments on a dark night and in rainy weather.
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Browse: Utah · 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.
