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Atlas / NTSB / WPR25LA032

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR25LA032

2024-11-07 Prescott, Arizona, United States Airport · KPRC None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N679ER

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172S

Year of manufacture

2021 · 3 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO-360-L2A (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20211123

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A8FD9B

Registrant of record

EMBRY RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The flight instructor’s failure to maintain clearance from a fence during taxi. Contributing to the accident was the low light conditions and obstacles adjacent to the deice bay.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor and pilot undergoing instruction were preparing for a pre-sunrise instructional flight. The airplane was standing at an unlit deice bay adjacent to a hangar, parked airplane, and a chain-link fence. As the flight instructor attempted to maneuver around the parked airplane and taxi out of the deice bay, the right wing impacted the top of the chain-link fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing. The pilots reported there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane 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).

  • Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot
  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Fence/fence post-Awareness of condition
  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Light condition-Low light-Effect on operation

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2024_WPR25LA032.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.