Event WPR17LA207

Factual narrative

On September 16, 2017, about 1430 mountain standard time, a Cessna 208B airplane, N786WW, collided with a light pole while taxiing after landing at the Sedona Airport (SEZ), Sedona, Arizona. The pilot and eight passengers were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing. The airplane was registered to and operated by West Wind Aviation, Inc., as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on-demand air taxi flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company visual flight rules flight plan was filed for the cross-country flight. The flight departed Grand Canyon West Airport, Peach Springs, Arizona at 1322.According to the pilot, after an uneventful landing on runway 3, he taxied the airplane from taxiway A2 to taxiway A and waited for further instructions from ground control. A Fly-in & Car Show event was taking place at the time, and several areas on the ramp were occupied by the show. The pilot was then instructed by ground control to follow a truck on A6 taxiway to transient parking. The transient parking was moved to the east side of the ramp and was only accessible by taxiway A6 during the event. The pilot stated that as he followed the truck, he noticed several airplanes that were parked to the right side and their wings overhung into the taxiway near to the centerline. As he approached the airplanes he steered left of centerline to maintain clearance to his right. He had one ground personnel to the right side clearing the airplane's right wing and no one on the left side to clear the left wing. The pilot advanced the throttle after he was clear of the airplanes to his right and subsequently impacted a light pole with the left wing. The light pole was positioned about 65 ft from the centerline of taxiway A6. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records indicated that the pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single-engine and multiengine land ratings. The pilot reported that he had about 915 hours total flight experience, including about 102 hours in the accident airplane make and model. The commercial pilot reported that, while taxiing after landing, he was instructed by the ground controller to follow a truck to transient parking. A fly-in car show event was taking place at the time, and several areas on the ramp were occupied by the show. With a wing walker on the right wing, he followed the truck and moved left of the taxiway centerline to avoid getting too close to the airplanes to the right that overhung into the taxiway. After the airplane was clear of the airplanes to the right, the pilot advanced the throttle and the left wing impacted a light pole, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. 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 Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot - C
• — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Pole-Contributed to outcome