Cessna 172 N8125U
25 November 2020 · Atlanta, Georgia, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 25 November 2020 at about 05:09 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N8125U was involved in an accident near Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 2 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 05:09
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Nearest airport
- Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK)
- Coordinates
- 33.8760, -84.3020
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172
- Registration
- N8125U
- Category
- Airplane
- Year built
- 1964
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Savannah → Unknown
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Night
- NTSB number
- ERA21LA056
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Probable cause
The Cessna pilot’s failure to tune his radio to the common traffic advisory frequency, which resulted in a lack of awareness of the other aircraft operating at the airport. Contributing to the accident was the Cessna pilot’s lack of understanding of the airport lighting system.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The private pilot of the Cessna was landing while the airline transport pilot of the Aero Commander was landing on the opposite runway during night visual meteorological conditions, after the airport control tower had closed. The Cessna pilot activated the runway approach lighting system and mistakenly believed that the green threshold lights indicated the direction for landing on the active runway. The pilot-controlled lighting system used a separate radio frequency from the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) at this airport. The Cessna pilot stated that he then “switched radio channels” and made “routine calls.” The Aero Commander pilot made radio announcements on the CTAF during each leg of the traffic pattern, announcing his location and intentions. Contrary to the Cessna pilot’s belief that the green lights he observed indicated the active runway (and the one on which he intended to land), they denoted the location of the (displaced) runway threshold of the adjacent runway. During landing rollout, the right-wing tip of the Cessna contacted the underside of the right wing of the Aero Commander, which had landed on the opposite runway, resulting in substantial damage to the Cessna’s right wing. The Cessna pilot reported that he did not hear any radio transmission from other aircraft operating at the time, and the pilot of the Aero Commander did not hear any radio transmissions from the Cessna pilot. Audio recordings of the CTAF frequency captured the radio transmissions made by the Aero Commander pilot (and other traffic) but did not capture any transmissions from the Cessna pilot. It is therefore likely that the Cessna pilot kept his single communications radio tuned to the pilot-controlled lighting frequency rather than change it to the CTAF as indicated in the airport/facility directory, which resulted in his communications not being heard by other pilots in the vicinity and his lack of awareness of the Aero Commander pilot’s position.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Aircraft involved
| Aircraft | Registration | Operator | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cessna 172 F | N8125U | - | Substantial |
| Aero Commander 500 B | N777CM | Central Air Southwest | Minor |
Other Cessna 172 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 2020 | Cessna 172 | Higginsville, Missouri, United States | University of Central Missouri | No injuries | - |
| 6 Feb 2020 | Cessna 172 | Palmer, Alaska, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 2 May 2020 | Cessna 172 | Fresno, California, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 2 Aug 2020 | Cessna 172 | Conway, Arkansas, United States | Barrett Aviation | No injuries | - |
| 3 Oct 2020 | Cessna 172 | Hinckley, Minnesota, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 31 Dec 2020 | Cessna 172R | Hope, Alaska, United States | Elmendorf Air Force Base Aero Club | Minor injuries | - |
All 12,209 records for this type
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 May 2020 | Mooney M20K | Athens, Georgia, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 27 Jun 2020 | Ayres S2R | Perry, Georgia, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 5 Oct 2020 | Champion 8KCAB | Ellijay, Georgia, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 9 May 2020 | Cessna 402 | Hampton, Georgia, United States | Handel International, LLC | Minor injuries | - |
| 25 Oct 2020 | Grumman AA5 | Baxley, Georgia, United States | Baxley Aviation LLC | Minor injuries | - |
| 17 Aug 2020 | Cessna 182 | Savannah, Georgia, United States | F3EA Inc. | No injuries | - |