SEA00LA181 · Cessna 172M
Cessna 172M · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Sportsman Airpark (2S6) to Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport (MFR)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA00LA181
- 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 172M
- 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
- CGHNV
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Sportsman Airpark (2S6), Newberg, ORTo Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport (MFR), Medford, OR
- 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 go-around
- 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
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After diverting from two other airports because of weather or high wind conditions, the pilot attempted a landing at a third airport. The pilot reported that the wind was not as strong at this airport and a landing was attempted. During the approach, the aircraft encountered gusting and turbulent conditions. The pilot does not recall all of the events leading up to the accident; however, the passenger recalled that the airplane was bouncing around on final approach due to the strong, gusting crosswind. The airplane touched down about half way down the runway and she did not feel that they had enough room to stop. During the landing roll, the airplane then veered to the left and off the side of the runway onto the gravel and grass area. The pilot then applied full power to go-around. The airplane eventually lifted off, but had not gained enough altitude to clear brush and trees that paralleled the runway. The airplane came to rest inverted about 1,100 feet from the point of runway departure.
Probable cause
The pilot's loss of control during the landing attempt. Trees, a crosswind condition, the pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind conditions, and a delayed remedial action were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA00LA181
- Event ID
- 20001212X22075
- Case number
- SEA00LA181
- 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: 8bf2d49fe5862b0d9e8ad39cdac93eaa6087fc2aa1ee0c30764ebb531754073a; retrieved 2026-09-21T10:25:19.933Z.