FTW99LA009 · Cessna 172H
Cessna 172H · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Lake Bonanza Airport (33TA) to SAN · San Angelo, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW99LA009
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna 172H
- 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
- N2513L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake Bonanza Airport (33TA)To SAN · San Angelo, TX
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Object › Tree(s)
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The left wing of the airplane contacted a tree branch during the initial climb from runway 17, and subsequently, the airplane impacted the ground. The pilot stated that he positioned the airplane for take off at the approach end of runway 17 and had to clear the inside and outside of the windows after they fogged. The pilot stated that he initiated the take off roll and the airplane lifted off the ground approximately 1,000 feet down the runway. During the takeoff roll the windshield and side windows became obscured by condensation (fog), blocking his view of outside references. The pilot maintained control of the airplane by referencing the flight instruments. The airplane was approximately 60 feet above ground level when the passenger 'excitedly' stated 'trees left, trees left.' The pilot misinterpreted the passengers statement as 'veer left, veer left,' and the pilot began to bank the airplane to the left. The airplanes left wing contacted a tree branch which resulted in the airplane 'spinning to the left and pointing [it] straight down.' The airplane came to rest on its nose in a near vertical attitude, in a wooded area.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance with trees. Factors were the fogged front windshield and side windows.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW99LA009
- Event ID
- 20001211X11259
- Case number
- FTW99LA009
- 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: 83cf144345e7a89b26916ef2ff53ca84bc7af910b5b6a9ee318ec730fcf9faa3; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:40:09.418Z.