WPR10CA320 · Cessna 175
Cessna 175 · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) during initial climb
From Morgan County Airport (42U) to North Big Horn County Airport (U68)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR10CA320
- 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 175
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 175
- 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
- N9247B
- Operator
- Meek John C
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Morgan County Airport (42U), Mt Green, UTTo North Big Horn County Airport (U68), Cowley, WY
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that after takeoff he began a southbound climb until he felt that sufficient altitude had been gained to maintain terrain clearance followed by a turn to the north-northeast. He continued to climb as he followed a canyon reporting that he experienced light turbulence throughout the flight. As the pilot flew up the valley he elected to follow the northwestern side expecting to gain extra lift from the wind. The pilot reported that the airplane was climbing but as the valley narrowed, the airplane’s climb rate decreased and then the airplane began to descend. The pilot began to shift to the other side of the valley, which only increased the rate of descent. As the pilot attempted to maintain altitude, the airspeed began to decrease. As the airspeed continued to decrease the pilot verified that full power was still being applied. The stall warning horn periodically activated as the pilot attempted to avoid trees. The airplane collided with a tree and nosed over as the airplane impacted terrain resulting in substantial damage.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate clearance from terrain during climb.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR10CA320
- Event ID
- 20100630X65010
- Case number
- WPR10CA320
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: efadfe570b11fd26355faafb2af859a1a0450957922935b2398c9ff816fbc8bc; retrieved 2026-09-15T14:34:35.359Z.