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MIA85LA154 · Cessna 172N

22 Apr 1985 · Fort Myers, FL, United States

Cessna 172N · Accident: overrun during takeoff

From an unrecorded airport to Page Field (FMY)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA85LA154
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 172N

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
N739DA
Operator
Douglas R. Reich · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo Page Field (FMY), Fort Myers, FL
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
Takeoff · roll/run
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
Overrun
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 › Aborted takeoff, improper
  • Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, performed

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

NTSB narrative

PLT STATED THAT ON TAKEOFF GROUND RUN FROM A TURF RUNWAY HE FELT SEVERE VIBRATION IN THE NOSE GEAR AND LIFTED IT OFF THE GROUND. AS HE DID HE THOUGHT HE FELT A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER AN ABORTED THE TAKEOFF. BEFORE THE AIRCRAFT COULD BE STOPPED IT OVERRAN THE RUNWAY INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO. POST CRASH INSPECTION OF THE AIRCRAFTS NOSE GEAR AND ENGINE REVEALED NO EVIDENCE OF PRECRASH MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION. THE AIRPORT OPERATOR STATED THAT THE WINDS WERE OUT OF THE WEST AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT AND THAT THE FLIGHT DEPARTED TO EAST. WIND WERE APPROXIMATELY 10 KNOTS, AND THIS WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE FLIGHT A 10 KNOT TAILWIND AT DEPARTURE. PROPER SOFTFIELD TAKEOFF TECHNIQUE WAS NOT USED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA85LA154
Event ID
20001214X36268
Case number
MIA85LA154
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: 92fe9641e7ad07d153d801c7926a50e1736fccc0bd2fea489a7b697f46a9dd38; retrieved 2026-09-23T17:56:30.866Z.