LAX02LA245

Factual narrative

On August 1, 2002, at 0735 mountain standard time, a Cessna 170B, N2233D, ground looped off the runway, hit a fence, and nosed over, while landing at St. Johns Industrial Air Park (SJN), St. Johns, Arizona. The airplane was owned and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured; the airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the local area personal flight that originated about 0700. The pilot indicated that he was the last of a group of five aircraft to arrive at St. Johns and chose to land on runway 14, as the other members in the group had done. He was aware that a crosswind, "light and from the southwest," was present. Upon the attempted three-point touchdown, the airplane ground looped to the right. Left brake and rudder were applied, and the airplane veered off the east side of the runway. Noticing that the terrain dropped away on that side of the runway, the pilot added power and removed carburetor heat, in order to fly toward the lowering terrain and regain control of the airplane. However, the left wing tip made contact with soft terrain and the airplane struck a chain link fence while in flight. As a result, the airplane struck the ground nose first, and nosed over. The airplane came to rest inverted about 100 feet from the runway. The automated surface observation system (ASOS) for St. Johns was reporting winds from 240 at 11 knots at 0754. The pilot attempted to make a three-point touchdown with a known crosswind and the airplane ground looped, veered off the runway, and collided with an airport boundary fence. Just after touchdown on runway 14, a ground loop commenced, and the airplane veered to the right. Left brake and rudder were applied in order to regain control, whereupon the airplane ran off the east side of the runway. The pilot decided to abort the landing and applied full power in an attempt to get the airplane airborne and under control, but the left wingtip contacted the ground. The airplane then struck a fence, impacted the ground, nosed over, and came to rest inverted. The automated surface observation system (ASOS) was reporting winds from 240 at 11 knots about 20 minutes after the accident. Runway 21 was available at the airport for the landing. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12