Cessna 172G N3811L
7 September 2003 · Greenville, Michigan, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 7 September 2003 at about 22:00 local time, a Cessna 172G registered N3811L was involved in an accident near Greenville, Michigan, United States. 4 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 22:00
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Greenville, Michigan, United States
- Nearest airport
- Greenville Municipal Airport (6D6)
- Coordinates
- 43.1422, -85.2539
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172G
- Registration
- N3811L
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Greenville → Unknown
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- CHI03LA303
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate takeoff procedure with the use of 20 degrees of flaps. Contributing factors were the interrelated effects of high aircraft weight, the density altitude, and the relative humidity. An additional factor was the trees.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain during initial climb from a 4,200 foot long hard surfaced runway. The pilot reported the airplane had full fuel and 3 passengers. The pilot stated that for the takeoff he selected 20 degrees of flaps, rotated the airplane about 60 miles per hour, and kept the airplane in ground effect to gain airspeed. He stated that during the climb the wings started to stall. The pilot lowered the nose to regain airspeed, but impacted 70 foot high trees at the departure end of the runway. The airplane flight manual recommends no flaps for normal and obstacle clearnace takeoffs and flaps 10 degrees to shorten ground run. It does not recommend flaps settings of 30-40 degrees. Based upon the airport's weather observation temperature data, the density altitude was 2,332 feet mean sea level with a relative humidity of 51 percent.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Cessna 172 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Dec 2003 | Cessna 172RG | Key West, Florida, United States | Avion Jet Center, LLC | No injuries | - |
| 16 Mar 2003 | Cessna 172N | Foley, Minnesota, United States | - | Fatal | 3 |
| 12 Jul 2003 | Cessna 172S | Chandler, Arizona, United States | Angel Air | No injuries | - |
| 18 Jan 2003 | Cessna 172 | Chesapeake, Virginia, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 21 Mar 2003 | Cessna 172S | Monroe, Georgia, United States | Elite Flight Center | Fatal | 2 |
| 22 Aug 2003 | Cessna 172S | Lake Elmo, Minnesota, United States | Wings, Inc. | Fatal | 3 |
All 12,209 records for this type
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Nov 2003 | Cessna 175 | Mears, Michigan, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 20 Aug 2003 | Beechcraft 1900D | Muskegon, Michigan, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 24 Aug 2003 | Cessna 140 | Edwardsburg, Michigan, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 16 Jul 2003 | Piper PA-34-220T | Port Huron, Michigan, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 27 Jun 2003 | Cessna 172N | Romeo, Michigan, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 24 Mar 2003 | Piper PA-28-151 | South Haven, Michigan, United States | - | No injuries | - |