Search Results for: Cessna 172

You are flying a well-appointed, 180-hp Cessna 172 and with a friend have just taken off from Aspen, Colo., on a trip back to Wichita. You make a right climbing turn over the hills north of the airport and, at 80 knots, continue climbing to the southeast. The air has a gentle texture, not even light turbulence.

As you gain altitude in the valley of the Roaring Fork River you are below the tops of the mountains. The September gold of the aspens is phenomenal. Theres a cloudless, blue sky. You are feeling good because you flew in and out of Aspen successfully and didnt foul up in the busy mix of aircraft types and opposite direction traffic on runway 15-33.

Your airplane rises steadil…

The following information is derived from the FAAs Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Click here to view “Airworthiness Directives.”

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An FAA avionics inspector in the Scottsdale, Ariz., FSDO reported that he has found the ELT remote switch circuits to be defective on two separate new Cessna 172s.

The Pointer 3000-11 model ELTs were both factory installed as original equipment by Cessna. An investigation by the manufacturer determined that the internal fuse had failed, but the manufacturer claimed the problem had been traced to Cessnas post-production test procedure several years ago.

The problem was fi…

In 1991, my need for an airplane larger than my Cessna 150 led to a search that ended with a 1959 Cessna 172 my A&P father located near his home in Texas.

The plane obviously needed some cosmetic work, but it fit my meager budget and I was promised it would be sold with a fresh annual inspection. The annual inspection sealed the deal. I figured it would at least be safe to fly in spite of its dowdy appearance, which Id deal with as resources allowed.

My father took care of completing the sale and flew the 172 the 15 or so minutes to his home airport. On landing, he got the first of a whole string of surprises the airplane would reveal in the coming months.

At touchdown on the shor…

It was that time of year when spring was trying to become summer and I had an opportunity to fly a volunteer blood run with my clubs Cessna 172. I set out for the 300-mile round trip with my friend, also a pilot. Both of us are 400-hour VFR pilots.

Conditions at the time of departure were 3,500 feet broken, which was forecast to hold throughout our trip.

Forty miles from our destination airport the holes in the broken layer had closed and the ceiling was beginning to lower. We were to enter a military control area in the next 20 miles and were just barely able to maintain the minimum altitude we needed to transit the area.

Fortunately, the military control tower accommodated us th…

I was planning a flight in a Cessna 172 to maintain night flight currency. Another pilot, who also held a commercial certificate and claimed 900 hours total time (to my 377) agreed to split the cost of the rental and we would each do three landings.

I got a standard weather briefing and filed a VFR flight plan. I asked my companion if he wanted to make the flight out or the flight back. He said he hadnt flown in a while and just wanted to get familiar with the airplane.

I said I would be PIC for the flight to a nearby airport, and he could be PIC on the trip back if he so desired. He didnt respond.

We took off from Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego at about 1910 and m…

At approximately 08:25 MDT, a Piper PA-28-181 Archer crashed in the mountains 10 miles northwest of Villa Grove. The flight instructor and commercial pilot getting instruction were killed. The accident airplane was one in a flight of three being used to train FBI pilots in mountain flying techniques. The other two FBI pilots said they came through Hayden Pass and turned north, to an area where they would practice turning around in blind canyons. One pilot said he and his flight instructor performed three types of exit maneuvers in their Cessna 172. The other pilot said he and his instructor, also flying in a Cessna 172, were discussing the exit maneuvers when they noticed the Archer had cras…

I guess you would call me a senior pilot although I have been flying for just 11 years. I learned to fly at age 66 and got my instrument rating at age 72. I share a Cessna 182 with a friend in Florida and a Cessna 172 with a friend in Cleveland. This story is about the 172.

Last spring triple two Juliet was presented to the maintenance shop at Cuyahoga County for its annual inspection. No major problems were reported, with a few small items listed and corrected. All AD requirements met, the plane returned to our hangar.

The aircraft was not flown for several weeks because weather and personal reasons kept us from flying. But finally at the end of April I was able to make some time fo…

The new private pilot was on fourth flight with passengers in a Cessna 172. In his first landing attempt he was long and went around. During the process the airplane was observed performing strangely.

On the second attempt the pilot again landed long and again attempted to go-around. He added full power but did not retract the flaps from fully extended, whereupon the aircraft pitched up, stalled and crashed.

The two long landings were bad enough, implying both inadequate training and substandard proficiency, but the problem had even deeper roots. The NTSB investigator found only two entries in the pilots logbook regarding go-around training. Both were pre-solo. The pilot also had n…

The following briefs were selected from the 222 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in June 2002. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed. Click here to view “Accident Totals, June.”

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June 02, Alhambra, Calif.
Cessna 172
At 1742 Pacific time, a Cessna 172N lost engine power during cruise flight and was damaged in a forced landing to I-10 near Alhambra. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. The pilot reported his calculations were in error and the airplane ran out of fuel.

June 02, Dalhart, Texas
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