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Atlas / NTSB / WPR12CA171

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR12CA171

2012-04-12 Prescott, Arizona, United States Airport · KPRC None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N17304

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172S

Year of manufacture

2007 · 5 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO-360-L2A (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20071204

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A126C7

Registrant of record

PHOENIX EAST AVIATION LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's inadequate compensation for a crosswind during takeoff, which resulted in a loss of directional control.

Factual narrative

The pilot was practicing touch-and-go takeoffs and landings in a crosswind. The pilot said the landing was uneventful; however, as the airplane accelerated for takeoff it veered to the left. Despite the pilot's control inputs, the airplane continued to veer to the left, exited the runway surface, and struck a runway sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, firewall, and empennage. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot was practicing touch-and-go takeoffs and landings in a crosswind. The pilot said that the landing was uneventful; however, as the airplane accelerated for takeoff, it veered to the left. Despite the pilot's control inputs, the airplane continued to veer to the left, exited the runway surface, and struck a runway sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, firewall, and empennage. The pilot reported no mechanical anomalies 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-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
  • C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Crosswind-Response/compensation - C

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2012_WPR12CA171.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 or causal vocabulary (icing). 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 ↗