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ERA24LA192

2024-04-20 · Zelienople, Pennsylvania, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PJC

Current FAA registration · N684SP

Make / Model
CESSNA 172S
Year of manufacture
1999 · 25 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19990203
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A913B1

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s inadequate compensation for the gusting crosswind condition during landing.

Factual narrative

While inbound to the airport the pilot stated that he listened to the automated terminal information service, which indicated that the wind was from 290° at 11 kts with gusts to 20 kts. The pilot selected runway 35 for the landing, and to compensate for the wind, he added an extra 5 knots to the approach speed. After passing the runway threshold during the final approach, while about 20 feet above the runway surface, the airplane suddenly rolled to the right and the right wingtip contacted the ground. The pilot further described that he thought that the airplane had encountered a significant wind shear. He then leveled the wings and added power to abort the landing, but the airplane impacted the runway several seconds later. The airplane came to rest in the grass to the left of the runway and the airplane’s fuselage and right wing were substantially damaged during the accident sequence. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. A surface weather observation taken about 9 minutes before the accident reported wind from 310° at 12 kts, with gusts to 17 kts. The wind conditions reported during the hour preceding and the hour following the accident included similar gusting crosswind conditions, with some directional variability/shearing reported about 40 minutes before and 1 hour after the accident time. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Response/compensation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2024_ERA24LA192.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (wind shear). All research papers