Cessna 172 accidents

The NTSB database holds 12,209 accidents and incidents involving the Cessna 172, recorded between 1964 to 2026. 1,728 of them were fatal (14%), and 3,521 people died.

The deadliest year was 1978, with 204 deaths.

The phase of flight recorded most often is landing (2,531 records).

Most of these records are from United States, Canada and Mexico.

6,274 of these records have no coordinates in the source data, so they appear in the list below but not on the map.

12,209

Records

1,728

Fatal

3,521

Deaths

14%

Share fatal

1964 to 2026

Period

Show these on the map 5,935 of 12,209 have coordinates

By decade

1960s 1,903

1970s 2,892

1980s 2,353

1990s 1,745

2000s 1,500

2010s 1,126

2020s 690

Where these happened

United States 11,825 Canada 28 Mexico 26 Unknown/Not Reported 18 Australia 16 Spain 13

Operators involved

American Flyers 20 Civil Air Patrol, Inc. 18 Embry-Riddle A 16 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 13 Civil Air Patr 12 General Aviati 10

All 12,209 records by number of deaths, then by date

Date	Aircraft	Location	Operator	Outcome	Died
25 Sep 1978	Cessna 172 N7711G	San Diego, California, United States no coordinates	Gibbs Flite CE	Fatal	137
21 May 2001	Cessna 172P	Kuwana Mie Pre., Japan no coordinates	Nakanihon Air Service	Fatal	8
19 Jul 1997	Cessna 172P N5323K	Chicago, Illinois, United States	-	Fatal	7
7 Dec 1991	Cessna 172P N65831	Snohomish, Washington, United States	Arlington Aeronautical	Fatal	7
5 Nov 1982	Cessna 172P N63836	Near Myakka Cit, Florida, United States no coordinates	CUB Club, Inc.	Fatal	6
23 Jul 1982	Cessna 172 N2428E	Mercer Island, Washington, United States	Snohomish Flying Service, Inc.	Fatal	6
3 Feb 1981	Cessna 172 N739DV	Ft Lauderdale, Florida, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	6
24 Dec 1980	Cessna 172M N64222	Aberdeen, Mississippi, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	6
29 Nov 1970	Cessna 172 N8443X	Missing Aircraft, Unknown/Not Reported no coordinates	GAM Corp.	Fatal	6
4 Jul 1966	Cessna 172G N4466L	Livermore Calif, California, United States no coordinates	Courtesy Aviat	Fatal	6
16 Aug 2015	Cessna 172M N1285U	San Diego, California, United States	-	Fatal	5
11 May 2009	Cessna 172 RG CP-2492	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	-	Fatal	5
17 Jun 2003	Cessna 172N N4903F	Deerfield Beach, Florida, United States	-	Fatal	5
7 Jan 1996	Cessna 172 N55475	Nassau, Bahamas no coordinates	Livingston MacKey	Fatal	5
12 Apr 1992	Cessna 172P N63078	Englewood, Colorado, United States	Wings of Denver Flying Club	Fatal	5
6 Jul 1986	Cessna 172M N80503	Havasu Lake, California, United States	JIM Kuhn	Fatal	5
26 Nov 1981	Cessna 172M N9710H	Payette, Oregon, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
21 Dec 1979	Cessna 172M N6714H	Lebec, California, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
4 Jul 1979	Cessna 172 N20739	Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
27 Jul 1977	Cessna 172L N19691	Vienna, Georgia, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
4 Dec 1976	Cessna 172N N75604	Grand View, New York, United States no coordinates	Teterboro Flig	Fatal	5
9 Aug 1976	Cessna 172K N78479	Bryson City, North Carolina, United States no coordinates	Webb Aviation	Fatal	5
12 Aug 1973	Cessna 172M N20265	Torrance, California, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
1 Jul 1973	Cessna 172L N19663	Douglas, Massachusetts, United States no coordinates	Executive Flye	Fatal	5
15 Aug 1972	Cessna 172I N752ST	Hopedale, Massachusetts, United States no coordinates	Northshore AER	Fatal	5
11 May 1969	Cessna 172K N78435	Chino, California, United States no coordinates	Holiday Flying	Fatal	5
4 Aug 1968	Cessna 172E N3793S	S.bass Islnd, Ohio, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
2 Jul 1968	Cessna 172 N3951F	Empire, Colorado, United States no coordinates	SQDN.78 Aero C	Fatal	5
6 Aug 1967	Cessna 172F N5507R	Laconia, New Hampshire, United States no coordinates	Lakes Region F	Fatal	5
12 May 1967	Cessna 172G N4409L	Portland, Missouri, United States no coordinates	Interstate Air	Fatal	5
25 Nov 1966	Cessna 172G N6068R	Chinook Mont, Montana, United States no coordinates	Siems Aero-Aid	Fatal	5
23 Jan 1966	Cessna 172 N5735A	Rockton Ill, Illinois, United States no coordinates	Business Mens	Fatal	5
3 Dec 1964	Cessna 172 N8992B	Shelby Nc, North Carolina, United States no coordinates	-	Fatal	5
26 Apr 2021	Cessna 172 ZS-PXI	Grasmere, South Africa no coordinates	-	Fatal	4
25 Jul 2020	Cessna 172 HB-TLF	Blatten - VS, Switzerland	Fluggruppe Reichenbach	Fatal	4
3 Jul 2020	Cessna 172 N6929H	Alpine, Utah, United States	Tyson Colby Brummett	Fatal	4
4 Nov 2017	Cessna 172N N251CH	Hatch, New Mexico, United States	-	Fatal	4
3 Jun 2017	Cessna 172 JA3989	Tateyama, Japan no coordinates	-	Fatal	4
26 Feb 2017	Cessna 172 XB-MRG	Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico no coordinates	-	Fatal	4
8 Jan 2017	Cessna 172 CC-CMP	Tirua, Chile	-	Fatal	4
20 Apr 2016	Cessna 172 N63541	Chugiak, Alaska, United States	70 North LLC	Fatal	4
26 Aug 2014	Cessna 172R N4207P	Willoughby Hills, Ohio, United States	T & G Flying Club	Fatal	4
23 Apr 2014	Cessna 172-M HR-AVN	Gracias, Honduras no coordinates	-	Fatal	4
16 Dec 2013	Cessna 172A PT-CNL	Teresina Municipality, Brazil no coordinates	Aeroclube DO Ceara	Fatal	4
17 Aug 2013	Cessna 172 D-EDQL	Bolzano, Italy	Flying Club	Fatal	4
21 Jun 2013	Cessna 172M N9926Q	Waterford, Michigan, United States	Flight 101, LLC	Fatal	4
8 Feb 2013	Cessna 172 LV-GEU	La Matanza, Argentina	Centro Universitario de Aviacion	Fatal	4
9 Sep 2012	Cessna 172N N1009F	Acreúna Municipality, Brazil	-	Fatal	4
25 Aug 2012	Cessna 172 C-FNET	Moorefield, Canada no coordinates	Waterloo - Wellington Flight Center	Fatal	4
23 Jun 2012	Cessna 172 N5781A	Veneta, Oregon, United States	-	Fatal	4