DFW07CA048 · Cessna 172S
Cessna 172S · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing
From San Antonio International Airport (KSAT) to Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW07CA048
- 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 172S
- 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
- N988SP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Antonio International Airport (KSAT), San Antonio, TXTo Austin Air Ranch Airport (88R), Spicewood, TX
- 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
- Landing · landing roll
- 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- 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 › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Directional control, 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 270-hour private pilot lost directional control of the single-engine airplane during a crosswind landing on runway 35. Runway 35 was reported as a dry 4,185-foot long by 30-foot wide asphalt runway. The pilot stated in the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, that "while slowing down on the runway, a sudden gust blew the airplane to the right (east) and off the runway." Subsequently, the "nose gear dug into the mud and collapsed causing the airplane to flip onto its back." The pilot was able to exit the aircraft through the cabin door and sustained no injuries. The airplane sustained structural damage. Weather reported at a facility 25 nautical miles to the east included wind from 300 degrees at 12 knots, gusting to 22 knots, clear skies, and 10 miles visibility.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to compensate for the existing wind conditions resulting in a loss of directional control. Factors were the gusty crosswind and the muddy terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW07CA048
- Event ID
- 20070208X00154
- Case number
- DFW07CA048
- 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, coordinates. 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: 2cb5ea45113521a333a32d7364ede50ac7753118be2995218fe6120dd699efe3; retrieved 2026-09-22T04:06:15.816Z.