MKC89LA186 · Cessna 172
Leaders Flying Service Cessna 172 · Accident on approach
From Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (BRD) to Leaders Clear Lake Airport (8Y6)
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC89LA186
- 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 172
- 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
- N80357
- Operator
- Leaders Flying Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (BRD), Brainerd, MNTo Leaders Clear Lake Airport (8Y6), Clear Lake, MN
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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 › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Proper alignment, not attained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT SAID THAT SHE RETURNED TO THE DESTINATION AIRPORT LATER THAN PLANNED AND NIGHT LANDING CONDITIONS EXISTED ON ARRIVAL. THE SOD RUNWAY HAD ONLY TWO LIGHTS ON THE END OF THE RUNWAY TO AID NIGHT OPERATIONS. THE PILOT SAID IF SHE WAS UNABLE TO LAND, SHE WOULD RETURN TO ST. CLOUD, A FULL FACILITY AIRPORT, ABOUT 10 MILES FROM THERE. SHE SAID THAT SHE THOUGHT SHE COULD SEE THE OUTLINE OF THE SOD AIRSTRIP, SO ELECTED TO LAND. THE AIRCRAFT LANDED TO THE SIDE OF THE RUNWAY IN A SOFT BEAN FIELD DURING THE LANDING ROLL IT NOSED OVER.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER DECISION IN ATTEMPTING TO LAND WITH INADEQUATE VISUAL CUES WHICH PRECLUDED IDENTIFICATION OF A CORRECT RUNWAY ALIGNMENT. A SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE AIRPORT WAS READILY AVAILABLE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC89LA186
- Event ID
- 20001213X29217
- Case number
- MKC89LA186
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1989-08-23.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 650280fd70867afb186ab83d5da83ae338b8d8628ee7d2995da03aa4e04adac2; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:14:33.028Z.