SEA04LA030 · Cessna 172M
Cessna 172M · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach
From Preston Airport (U10) to Elk City Airport (S90)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA04LA030
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- N1363U
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Preston Airport (U10), Preston, IDTo Elk City Airport (S90), ELK CITY, ID
- 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 from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported he was unable to land at the planned destination due to deteriorating weather conditions and diverted to Grangeville, Idaho, approximately 33 miles to the southeast. The pilot arrived at the alternate airport, but stated he was unable to activate the runway lights and elected to divert to Elk City, Idaho. The pilot stated he attempted to land, however, aborted the landing due to snowmobiles on the runway. The pilot stated multiple attempts to land were made, but each was aborted due to snowmobile activity on the runway. The pilot stated that during the climb after the last landing attempt, "the crash occurred with no remembrance of the crash." According to the manager of the Elk City Airport, the airplane made several low passes over the runway. He reported that on the last pass, from north to south, he observed the airplane making a steep climbing turn to the left. Shortly thereafter, the airplane impacted wooded terrain east of the runway. The airport manager also stated that there were snowmobiles operating on and around the airstrip prior to the accident. He reported that the snowmobile operators were attempting to guide the pilot to the unlit runway. The Elk City Airport is located in mountainous terrain. The airport elevation is 4,097 feet above sea level. The airport has a single turf/gravel curved runway that is 2,600 feet long and 150 feet wide. The U.S. Government Airport/Facilities Directory (A/FD) states that the runway is not maintained in the winter. The airport is not equipped with a rotating beacon or runway lighting. The accident occurred approximately two hours after sunset, in dark night conditions. At the time of the accident, the runway was covered with approximately 12 inches of snow. FAA records indicated the pilot received a private pilot certificate (SEL), on December 20, 2003, five days prior to the accident.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from trees during a go-around. Factors include dark night conditions and trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA04LA030
- Event ID
- 20031230X02099
- Case number
- SEA04LA030
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2003-12-26.
- API snapshot SHA-256: cee75aca8cb77716538b01d551f4d1dd6c26ddaaef34b5ae1b0051310acde8e6; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:19:59.355Z.