DEN02LA045
2002-05-22 · Cedar City, Utah, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport CDC
Current FAA registration · N78760
- Make / Model
- CESSNA 172K
- Year of manufacture
- 1968 · 34 years old at event
- Engine
- LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 4 seats · 1 engine
- Last airworthiness date
- 19681121
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S AAADCA
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's inadvertent stall/mush during the landing flare/touchdown. A contributing factor was the gusty crosswind weather conditions.
Factual narrative
On May 22, 2002, at approximately 1715 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172K, N78760, was substantially damaged during landing at Cedar City Regional Airport, Cedar City, Utah. The private pilot and his two passengers were not injured. Parowan Aero Services, Inc., Parowan, Utah, was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local personal flight that originated approximately 45 minutes before the accident. The pilot had not filed a flight plan. The pilot said that he was in the landing flare, and the stall horn was sounding. He said a gust of wind from the right "caught" him and the airplane was forced airborne again. The pilot said the wind gust stopped and the airplane "slammed" down onto the runway. The firewall and engine mount were bent, and the main landing gear box assembly and left door frame were distorted/bent. The pilot said that he was in the landing flare, and the stall horn was sounding. He said a gust of wind from the right "caught" him and the airplane was forced airborne again. The pilot said the wind gust stopped and the airplane "slammed" down onto the runway. The firewall and engine mount were bent, and the main landing gear box assembly and left door frame were distorted/bent. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_DEN02LA045.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall
Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER) Analysis on the Negative Emotional, Physiological, and Cognitive Responses Elicited from of the Activation of a Stall Alarm
Failing to identify an aerodynamic stall can lead to the inability of an aircraft to sustain flight. To warn pilots of an impending or fully-developed stall, many aircraft have safety devices installe…