Aviation Crash Map

Cessna 172F N8761U

21 September 1998 · Long Beach, California, United States · No injuries

Summary

On 21 September 1998 at about 04:30 local time, a Cessna 172F registered N8761U was involved in an accident near Long Beach, California, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

The record

Date
at 04:30
Classification
Accident
Location
Long Beach, California, United States
Nearest airport
Daugherty Field (LGB)
Coordinates
33.8193, -118.1094
Aircraft
Cessna 172F
Registration
N8761U
Category
Airplane
Engines
1
Operator
Not recorded
Operating rule
Part 91: General Aviation
Purpose of flight
Personal
Phase of flight
Not recorded
Route
Torrance → Unknown
Aircraft damage
Substantial
Weather
VMC
Light
Night/Dark
NTSB number
LAX98LA301

People

Nobody was injured.

On board Died Serious Minor Uninjured
3 0 0 0 3

Probable cause

The pilot's misjudging the flare point and failure to maintain an adequate airspeed margin, which resulted in a stall/mush and hard landing. A contributing factor was the dark night conditions.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot entered the landing pattern under night conditions and everything was normal until he flared for touchdown. He believed he had flared high and added power to help control the descent rate. He then reduced power. The nose dropped and the propeller, nose gear, left main landing gear, and left wing tip struck the pavement almost simultaneously. The aircraft bounced and struck the ground with the right wing tip before coming to rest on the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.

Other Cessna 172 accidents

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
7 May 1998 Cessna 172M
N8994V
Elkhart, Indiana, United States
no coordinates
- No injuries -
30 Aug 1998 Cessna 172F
N7832U
Spring Hill, Florida, United States Barrett A. Bailey No injuries -
1 Sep 1998 Cessna 172G
N5797R
Leesburg, Florida, United States
no coordinates
- Minor injuries -
15 May 1998 Cessna 172M
N9212H
Palmer, Alaska, United States - Fatal 2
18 Jul 1998 Cessna 172G
N5907R
Dover, Delaware, United States - Minor injuries -
14 Nov 1998 Cessna 172C
N1806Y
Falls City, Nebraska, United States - No injuries -

All 12,209 records for this type

Other accidents in this area

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
1 Oct 1998 Cessna 152
N49770
Avalon, California, United States Orange County Flight Center Fatal 1
5 Oct 1998 Grumman TS-2A
N416DF
Banning, California, United States - Fatal 1
15 Aug 1998 North American NAVION
N8820H
Salinas, California, United States - Fatal 2
21 Aug 1998 Bell 206B
N223HA
Salinas, California, United States
no coordinates
- No injuries -
21 Aug 1998 Robinson R22B
N2335Q
Ramona, California, United States Civic Helicopters No injuries -
27 Aug 1998 Aerospatiale SA316B
N605RA
Porterville, California, United States U.s. Dept. of the Interior No injuries -

All 170,864 records in United States