WPR26LA102 · Cessna 172M
Cessna 172M · Accident: loss of control on ground during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Murphy Airport (1U3)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR26LA102
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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 172M
- 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
- N4464R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Murphy Airport (1U3), Murphy, ID
- Aircraft age
- About 52 years (built 1974)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- 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 was conducting a personal proficiency flight in a rented airplane to practice right-seat operations. During the takeoff roll, after application of full engine power, the right seat slid aft along the seat track to the full rearward position. The pilot was unable to reach the rudder pedals and lost directional control of the airplane. The airplane exited the left side of runway, crossed the grass infield, and impacted a hangar, which resulted in substantial damage to both wings. The pilot stated that he positioned the seat fully forward before takeoff and confirmed engagement of the locking mechanism by rocking the seat. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the seat assembly and seat rails operated as designed, with no mechanical anomalies. It was noted that when the seat was placed full forward against the seat stop, the locking pins could partially align with the forward engagement holes or could contact the seat stop mounting screw. In such cases, the locking pins may feel or appear engaged, thus giving the impression that the seat is locked in place. Examination of the forward seat stop revealed that the mounting screws installed were not the screws specified in the aircraft maintenance manual. However, the installed screw's head shape was similar to that of the specified screw. It could not be determined whether the installed screw affected the function of the seat rail system. The airplane had completed an annual inspection the day before the accident, which included compliance with Airworthiness Directive 2011 10 09 (inspection of the seats and seat rails). The pilot reported no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. It’s likely that the right seat locking pins were not fully engaged in the seat track engagement holes at the time of takeoff, which allowed for it to slide aft, resulting in the pilot’s loss of directional control during the takeoff roll.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to verify that the seat locking pins were fully engaged before takeoff, which allowed the seat to slide aft during the takeoff roll and resulted in a loss of directional control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR26LA102
- Event ID
- 20260209202417
- Case number
- WPR26LA102
- 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, cause areas. 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: 274177bf4bd769f0569ff4e36c663cfcc234fd6aaa49a60f19763a874582a3d1; retrieved 2026-09-16T20:44:11.976Z.