ERA10CA505 · Cessna 172S
Air America Cessna 172S · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) on approach
From Franconia Airport (1B5) to Franconia Airport (1B5)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA10CA505
- 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
- N5295Y
- Operator
- Air America
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Franconia Airport (1B5), Franconia, NHTo Franconia Airport (1B5), Franconia, NH
- 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
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
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 stated that the purpose of the flight was to fly his relative in the traffic pattern. Shortly after takeoff from runway 36, he remained in the traffic pattern and noticed personnel associated with gliders setting up for launches using runway 18. He was informed that the wind had shifted and opted to land on runway 18. The pilot reported that he made a higher approach than normal due to a glider being positioned at the threshold of runway 18. During landing, the wind shifted and he recognized that the airplane was not slowing. He initiated a go-around and just as the airplane was clearing a fence at the departure end of the runway, it encountered a downdraft and a gust. Despite the pilot applying aft elevator control, the airplane collided with the fence. The pilot continued the go-around procedure and looked outside the airplane noticing damage to a wheel pant; he thought the airplane appeared to be flying normally. Following an uneventful landing on runway 36, the pilot secured the airplane and inspected it for damage. The leading edges of both horizontal stabilizers, the bottom side of the left horizontal stabilizer, and the leading edge of the left elevator exhibited damage.
Probable cause
The pilot’s delay in initiating a go-around, which resulted in an in-flight collision with a fence.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA10CA505
- Event ID
- 20100929X65334
- Case number
- ERA10CA505
- 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: a8164bab0cf9ac0191ea2a0d8768c081232fbbc60f26e2f06fbccc7baadafa13; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:25:32.547Z.