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Atlas / NTSB / ERA17CA250

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA17CA250

2017-07-19 Factoryville, Pennsylvania, United States Airport · 9N3 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4876F

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172N

Year of manufacture

1979 · 38 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19790815

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A605CA

Registrant of record

COSTA AIR SERVICE LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to attain the proper touchdown point, which resulted in a runway overrun.

Factual narrative

The private pilot reported that he had recently returned to flying after a lengthy period of inactivity, and this was his first solo flight after completing a comprehensive flight review. According to the pilot, after completing the traffic pattern, he landed the airplane at the midpoint of the 2,400-foot runway with 10 knots of excess airspeed and a slight tailwind. Despite maximum braking, the airplane overran the departure end of the runway and struck dense brush, which resulted in substantial damage to the engine firewall. The pilot further reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The private pilot reported that he had recently returned to flying after a lengthy period of inactivity and that this was his first solo flight after completing a comprehensive flight review. According to the pilot, after completing the traffic pattern, he landed the airplane at the midpoint of the 2,400-ft-long runway with 10 knots of excess airspeed and a slight tailwind. Despite maximum braking, the airplane overran the departure end of the runway and struck dense brush, which resulted in substantial damage to the engine firewall. The pilot further reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-(general)-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2017_ERA17CA250.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗