N5606T

On January 26, 1999, at 1500 central standard time, a Cessna 172E airplane, N5606T, flipped over in gusting winds while taxiing for takeoff at the Guymon Municipal Airport, Guymon, Oklahoma. The single engine airplane was owned and operated by a private individual under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the airline transport rated pilot, sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the planned cross country flight from Guymon to Amarillo, Texas. A flight plan was not filed. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.

During interviews, conducted by the investigator-in-charge, the pilot and the owner of the aircraft reported that the pilot checked the weather. The pilot reported the winds from 170 degrees at 27 knots with gusts to 41 knots. The operator recalled the winds were from the south at 30 knots gusting to 35 knots. The pilot taxied the airplane downwind for the takeoff on runway 18. When the pilot turned the airplane 90 degrees for entry onto the runway, the left wing lifted into the air and the propeller struck the ground. The pilot called the fixed base operator for assistance and several people responded and tried to keep the airplane from flipping; however, the airplane flipped to the inverted position. Structural damage occurred to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, and empennage.

At 1453 the automatic weather station for Guymon, Oklahoma, reported the winds from 220 degrees at 29 knots gusting to 35 knots. The peak gust was reported as 38 knots at 1429.

The pilot reported a total flight time of 4,300 hours. He further reported having accumulated 610 hours in the make and model of aircraft that he was taxiing at the time of the accident.