SEA07CA183 · Cessna 172N
Cessna 172N · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during initial climb
From Renton Municipal Airport (RNT) to Ranger Creek State Airport (21W)
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
- SEA07CA183
- 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 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
- N733XW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Renton Municipal Airport (RNT), Renton, WATo Ranger Creek State Airport (21W), Greenwater, WA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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
- Weather condition › Sudden windshift
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The private pilot undergoing instruction (PUI) was undertaking a mountain checkout in order to rent the airplane. The certified flight instructor (CFI) and PUI obtained a full weather briefing and the CFI had been to the airport on many occasions. They listened to the weather observation taken from a nearby mountain pass and the winds were reported from 090 degrees at 8 knots. They over flew the airport and noted that the windsock was indicating calm winds and they elected to land to the south. During the approach into the mountain airport, the CFI noted a light bump over the approach end of the 2,875-foot long, 30-foot wide runway. After calculating takeoff distances and determining density altitude, the CFI and PUI noted that the windsock was still indicating calm wind conditions, so they elected to depart to the north (the calm wind preferred departure route). The CFI noted that the temperature was 18 degrees Celsius. They configured the airplane for a short field takeoff, applying 15 degrees of flaps. While holding the brakes, the PUI added full power and began the takeoff roll. The CFI noted that maximum static power was being obtained. The PUI rotated the airplane at 50 knots (target speed was 56 knots). Approximately 15-20 feet above ground level, a gust of wind blew the airplane to the right and the CFI assumed control of the airplane. The airplane then sank. At this point, the CFI elected to discontinue the takeoff and as the airplane settled downward, he noted a newly installed guardrail at the end of the runway. He applied additional power to overfly the guardrail and land in a clear area beyond it. The airplane began to slow and then impacted a ditch and nosed-over.
Probable cause
The in-flight encounter with a sudden windshift during the takeoff initial climb, to which the certified flight instructor responded by aborting the takeoff and landing off the end of the runway. The ditch was a contributing factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA07CA183
- Event ID
- 20070730X01059
- Case number
- SEA07CA183
- 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: 6fec443d16df76f9828f2629d185a2d8d25904790a2333d4654a138a5a63bac0; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:43:17.990Z.