GAA18CA545 · Cirrus SR22 Undesignat
Cirrus SR22 Undesignat · Accident: loss of control on ground while standing
From Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA545
- 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
Cirrus SR22 Undesignat
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR22
- 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
- N669HT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mason City Municipal Airport (MCW), Mason City, IATo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- About 13 years (built 2005)
- 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
- Standing · engine(s) start-up
- 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
- Loss of control on ground
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 that the battery was too low to start the engine, so he asked fixed-base operator personnel if they could assist with a jumper pack. They told him that they did not have anyone on duty authorized to assist and that he would have to wait a couple of days. He decided to start the engine by hand propping. Before he began hand propping, he set the parking brake. Following the engine start, the airplane began to move forward. The pilot attempted to re-enter the airplane to apply the brakes, but the airplane struck a hangar.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
The Federal Aviation Administration inspector who examined the airplane after the accident reported that the parking brake functioned normally. He added that the pilot stated that he was sure he set the brakes but that he may not have gotten enough pressure to hold the airplane.
The Federal Aviation Administration's Airplane Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-3A, contained a section titled "Hand Propping" which states the following:
An engine should not be hand propped unless two people, both familiar with the airplane and hand propping techniques, are available to perform the procedure. The person pulling the propeller blades through directs all activity and is in charge of the procedure. The other person, thoroughly familiar with the controls, must be seated in the airplane with the brakes set. As an additional precaution, chocks may be placed in front of the main wheels. If this is not feasible, the airplane's tail may be securely tied. Never allow a person unfamiliar with the controls to occupy the pilot's seat when hand propping. The procedure should never be attempted alone.
Probable cause
The pilot’s improper hand propping procedure, which resulted in a runaway airplane and subsequent impact with a hangar.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA545
- Event ID
- 20180910X30852
- Case number
- GAA18CA545
- 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: c2fd22c27a08895a516eca86079d7dab52a3d57b06df5dcd3eba5c3f87c0cd22; retrieved 2026-09-16T08:13:47.809Z.