NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC07CA204
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inadequate preflight planning. Contributing to the accident were the overcast cloud conditions and the pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.
Factual narrative
According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, the non-instrument-rated pilot of the Cessna 172 reported that he and a passenger took off in clear skies for an early morning breakfast at an airport about 125 nautical miles to the northeast. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot found he could not descend below a cloud layer, and opted to return to the departure airport. Upon arrival at that airport, it was also covered by a low cloud layer, so the pilot continued to the south, toward rising terrain, to find a suitable airport to land. About 15 miles away, he found a hole in clouds and descended. With continued low ceilings and low fuel, the pilot made a precautionary landing to a field. During the landing roll, the pilot "lost control" of the airplane. The right wingtip struck the ground, then the left main landing gear folded inboard, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the outboard 3 feet of the left wing bent upwards about 30 degrees. The pilot did not obtain a weather briefing or file a flight plan, and no mechanical anomalies were noted with the airplane. The non-instrument-rated pilot of the Cessna 172 reported that he and a passenger took off in clear skies for an early morning breakfast at an airport about 125 nautical miles to the northeast. Upon reaching the destination, the pilot found he could not descend below a cloud layer, and opted to return to the departure airport. Upon arrival at that airport, it was also covered by a low cloud layer, so the pilot continued to the south, toward rising terrain, to find a suitable airport to land. About 15 miles away, he found a hole in clouds and descended. With continued low ceilings and low fuel, the pilot made a precautionary landing to a field. During the landing roll, the pilot "lost control" of the airplane. The right wingtip struck the ground, then the left main landing gear folded inboard, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the outboard 3 feet of the left wing bent upwards about 30 degrees. The pilot did not obtain a weather briefing or file a flight plan, and no mechanical anomalies were noted with the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2007_NYC07CA204.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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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.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Crash Testing and Simulation of a Cessna 172 Aircraft: Pitch Down Impact Onto Soft Soil
During the summer of 2015, NASA Langley Research Center conducted three full-scale crash tests of Cessna 172 (C-172) aircraft at the NASA Langley Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
Simulating the Impact Response of Three Full-Scale Crash Tests of Cessna 172 Aircraft
During the summer of 2015, a series of three full-scale crash tests were performed at the Landing and Impact Research Facility located at NASA Langley Research Center of Cessna 172 aircraft.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
Validation of Training Satisfaction Survey
The Training Satisfaction Survey (TSS) was developed as part of a larger project to examine the features of Virtual Reality software and supporting devices as a training program on visual illusions an…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Data in Brief)
Cockpit voice recorder transcript data: Capturing safety voice and safety listening during historic aviation accidents
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts capture audio data within cockpit environments. This aids the investigation of causal factors contributing to aviation accidents by revealing communication and…
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Safety Science)
Safety voice and safety listening during aviation accidents: Cockpit voice recordings reveal that speaking-up to power is not enough
Abstract Safety voice is theorised as an important factor for mitigating accidents, but behavioural research during actual hazards has been scant.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Can Backward-Chained, Ab-Initio Pilot Training Decrease Time to First Solo?
Flight simulation has made progressively significant inroads into pilot training at all levels of a pilot’s career – typically starting with training for the Instrument rating in light aircraft and co…
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