Cessna 172L N4312Q

Summary

On 16 September 2001 at about 14:45 local time, a Cessna 172L registered N4312Q was involved in an accident near Tucson, Arizona, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 September 2001 at 14:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Tucson, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

32.1167, -110.9167

Aircraft

Cessna 172L

Registration

N4312Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tucson → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX01LA286

1 person died.

the pilot's controlled descent into a residence for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane entered a dive and impacted a residence during what witnesses reported was a controlled descent. A post crash fire consumed the airplane. The airplane departed a private airpark during a time following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when VFR general aviation flights were prohibited. The airplane was observed entering a nosedive until it disappeared behind a tree line. The local authorities were told the pilot was having problems with his personal life. The pilot's wife told the local authorities that the pilot had never flown the accident airplane before, and that the airplane hadn't been flown for 5 years. Toxicological tests of samples from the pilot tested positive for prescription antidepressant medications. While the sheriff's department found evidence that the pilot had threatened suicide in the past, neither they nor the medical examiner found evidence to support a suicide by the pilot, and ruled the death as accidental.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.