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FTW92LA193 · Cessna 172F

29 Jul 1992 · Lubbock, TX, United States

Cessna 172F · Accident: undershoot on approach

From F82 to F82

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Event

NTSB case
FTW92LA193
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 172F

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
N5718R
Operator
Rhiley, King R. III · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From F82To F82
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
Approach · VFR pattern final
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
Undershoot
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

  • Dual student › Proper glidepath, misjudged
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Impairment(alcohol)
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

AT 6,700 FT MSL, AND OVER THE AIRPORT, POWER WAS PULLED BACK FOR A GLIDING SPIRAL TO THE AIRPORT. ON SHORT FINAL, THE AIRPLANE WAS HIGH AND NOT ALIGNED WITH THE RUNWAY. DURING A SLIP THE AIRPLANE HIT A MOUND OF DIRT ABOUT 75 FT SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. THE CFI'S APPLICATION FOR A NEW MEDICAL CERTIFICATE HAD BEEN DENIED; HE FAILED TO REPORT 'A DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED' CONVICTION ON HIS APPLICATION. A STATE TROOPER SUMMONED TO THE ACCIDENT SITE REPORTED THAT AS HE SPOKE TO THE CFI HE '...DID STILL HAVE A STRONG ODOR OF SOME TYPE OF ALCOHOL COMING FROM HIS BREATH AND HIS PERSON.' THE CFI'S RESULTS OF PERFORMING FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS INDICATED INTOXICATION.

Probable cause

THE PILOT UNDER INSTRUCTION MISJUDGED HIS DISTANCE AND ALTITUDE DURING A SIMULATED FORCED LANDING, AND THE CFI FAILED TO TAKE TIMELY ACTION TO PREVENT THE ACCIDENT AS A RESULT OF HIS ALCOHOLIC IMPAIRMENT OF EFFICIENCY AND JUDGEMENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW92LA193
Event ID
20001211X15166
Case number
FTW92LA193
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: b658aa8073ba88bc32153a144fa753e16f2b747316f1def0e531693e40e5bf69; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:53:30.490Z.