Cessna 172P N63663

Summary

On 15 October 2022 at about 05:00 local time, a Cessna 172P registered N63663, operated by Tennessee Flyers, Inc, was involved in an accident near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 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.

Date

15 October 2022 at 05:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Elizabethtown, Kentucky, United States

Nearest airport

Addington Fld (EKX)

Coordinates

37.6878, -85.9258

Aircraft

Cessna 172P

Registration

N63663

Category

Airplane

Year built

1981

Engines

1

Operator

Tennessee Flyers, Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Springfield → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA23LA031

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's decision to continue the taxi without visual reference to the surface, due to his vision being impaired by darkness and glare, which resulted in the airplane’s departure from the paved surface and impact with a ditch. Contributing was the flight instructor’s inadequate monitoring of the pilot.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot and flight instructor were performing a cross-country instrument flight rules training flight at night, and while enroute, diverted from their planned destination to a non-towered airport to refuel. After landing at the diversion airport, the pilot attempted to navigate via taxiways toward the ramp environment. As the taxi progressed toward the ramp, the blue taxiway edge lights ended, and a “significant glare” from the hangar lights directly ahead obscured the pilot’s forward view through the dirty windscreen. Believing that they had entered the ramp area, the pilot turned toward the fueling area, but the airplane then departed the paved surface onto grass and slid into a ditch. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact anomalies or malfunctions affecting the airplane’s operation. Had the pilot and flight instructor elected to discontinue taxiing the airplane after losing sight of the ground ahead due to the darkness and glare, it is likely that the accident would not have occurred.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.