FTW96LA238 · Cessna 172RG
Altitudes Flight Training Cessna 172RG · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Lake County Airport (LXV) to Centennial Airport (APA)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW96LA238
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cessna 172RG
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N9431D
- Operator
- Altitudes Flight Training
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake County Airport (LXV), COTo Centennial Airport (APA), Englewood, CO
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, transmission
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Before takeoff from a high altitude (9,927 feet above msl, 12,400 feet density altitude) airport on a mountain flying training flight, the CFI noted that the airport elevation was higher than the takeoff data charts provided for. During takeoff, the aircraft was rotated and settled back to the ground three times during takeoff roll. On the fourth rotation, which was at the departure end of the runway, the aircraft became airborne and descended down the side of an incline where it struck a power line and came to rest in a flat rocky area. All three occupants exited the aircraft with injuries. The investigation provided information that the airport elevation was above the highest altitude provided on the takeoff data charts, the mixture was not leaned in accordance with the procedures in the manual, and the flaps were not set in the proper setting for the type of takeoff being conducted. In addition, the investigation provided information that the flight instructor had received no formal mountain flying training, that there are no FAA approved mountain flying training courses, and to act as an instructor in mountain flying no specialized training is required.
Probable cause
Inadequate preflight planning and preparation and failure to follow aircraft operating procedures and directives. Factors were high density altitude, inadequate training of the flight instructor and insufficient standards and requirements for flight instructor training in mountain flying.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW96LA238
- Event ID
- 20001208X05965
- Case number
- FTW96LA238
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 547daa427a54bcd5da5628bb6e5ea20c3125376a273a67307b2e6b6eb0912459; retrieved 2026-09-21T12:42:49.132Z.