FTW02LA067

Factual narrative

On January 15, 2002, at 1450 central standard time, a Cessna 172 airplane, N509R, sustained substantial damage following a loss of directional control while landing at the Iraan Municipal Airport, Iraan, Texas. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot. The commercial pilot, sole occupant of the airplane, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal cross-country flight. The flight originated from New Braunfels, Texas, at 1145, with Iraan as an intermediate refueling stop. The flight's final destination was Union City, California. On the NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, and during a telephone interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge, the commercial pilot reported that he had difficulty locating the windsock as he overflew the airport and "assumed" the airport "had none that day." The pilot choose runway 32, based on the winds aloft he had received earlier that morning, "assuming" a 50 - 60 degree crosswind of approximately 5 - 7 knots. The pilot aborted his first two approaches "because [he] was too far up the runway." On the third approach, the airplane touched down approximately one-third of the way down the 4,085-foot long, 60-foot wide runway. Halfway down the runway, when the airplane was "solidly down," the pilot raised the flaps and applied "heavy" braking. The airplane then veered off the right side of the runway, through a barbed wire fence, a shallow wet ditch, over a paved road, and into a business yard, where it impacted a pipe trailer, before coming to rest in an upright position. The 400-hour pilot reported that he landed with a 15 knot tail wind. The pilot reported that at the time of the accident, the winds were reported to be from 120 degrees at 12 to 15 knots. The pilot added that most of his flying experience had been in Piper low wing airplanes. He said he felt the Cessna, a high wing airplane, "floated" more than the Piper. He also said he felt his lack of experience in high wing airplanes was a contributing factor to the accident. The pilot reported having accumulated a total of 7 hours in the Cessna 172. An FAA inspector, who traveled to the accident scene, reported damage to the left outboard wing tip, and structural damage to the nose gear and engine firewall. The pilot had difficulty locating the windsock as he overflew the airport. On his third landing attempt on runway 32, he landed one-third of the way down the 4,085 feet long, 60 feet wide runway. Halfway down the runway he retracted the flaps and applied heavy braking. The airplane veered off the right side of the runway, went through a barbed wire fence, a shallow ditch, over a road, and into a business yard, where it impacted a pipe trailer. The pilot discovered after the accident that he had landed with a 15 knot tail wind. The 400 hour pilot reported that he had accumulated a total of 7 hours in the Cessna 172, and he felt his lack of experience in high wing airplanes was a contributing factor to the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12