Cessna 172 accident near Lincoln, IL
On March 3, 2020, a Cessna 172 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Lincoln, IL. 3 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- March 3, 2020
- Place
- Lincoln, IL
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 3 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 40.161°N, 89.418°W
- NTSB ID
- 20200303X22021
Official records · CEN20FA110
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn March 3, 2020, about 0847 central standard time, a Cessna 172S airplane, N157SF, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Lincoln, Illinois. The pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 aerial survey flight. According to the owner of the airplane, the purpose of the flight was to conduct an aerial survey of a bald eagle nest near Lincoln. Shoener Environmental contacted Synergy Flight Center to use its airplanes for several aerial survey flights, with two of their ecologists as passengers. Prior to the flight, the pilot requested the airplane to be “topped off” with fuel. At 0759, Synergy Flight Center completed fueling the airplane with 27.8 gallons of 100 low lead fuel. A review of L3Harris Technologies OpsVue flight track data showed that, after departing at 0804, the airplane traveled south near Le Roy, Illinois, before traveling southwest near Heyworth, Illinois. The airplane continued a southwest path toward Lincoln. Northwest of Lincoln, the airplane entered a right descending turn, circling a heavily wooded area that is intersected by Kickapoo Creek and Interstate 55 (I-55). The flight track data showed that the airplane’s altitude and groundspeed decreased during the turn. The last several segments of flight track data, which ended at 0846, showed the airplane at an altitude of about 1,150 ft above mean sea level (msl) and an estimated groundspeed of 80 knots, which gradually decreased. The last data point indicated the airplane was traveling to
Probable cause
The pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack during an aerial survey, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at an altitude too low to recover.
More accidents in IL
- Beech 1900C, Nov 19, 1996
- Beech C-45H, Sep 7, 1992
- Hawker Siddeley HS-748-2A, Oct 12, 1983
- Cessna 414A, Apr 7, 2015
- Cessna 172P, Jul 19, 1997
Browse: Illinois · 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.
