N5070A

On September 2, 2005, at 0830 mountain standard time, a Cessna 172 airplane, N5070A, was destroyed when it impacted the displaced threshold for runway 8 at the Yuma International Airport, Yuma, Arizona. The private pilot/owner of the airplane sustained serious injuries and the passenger was fatally injured. The pilot operated the airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed for the local flight that departed Yuma around 0715.

During a telephone interview with the pilot, he reported that the purpose of the flight was to photograph some private property of his that was for sale. The passenger was seated in the left seat to photograph the property and the pilot was flying from the right seat.

They finished taking photographs of the property and were returning to the airport when the accident occurred. The airplane was on final approach and the pilot was conducting a full-flap landing. He reported that everything was fine, but the airplane began descending too fast. He applied some power to go-around, but the airplane encountered a gust of wind and stalled on short final.

Witnesses informed the Federal Aviation Administrator inspector who responded to the accident site that they observed the airplane on short final. The nose pitched up to a level position about 50 feet above the ground and then nosed down until impact with the ground.

Photographs taken of the accident site by airport operations personnel displayed tire marks on the displaced threshold followed by parallel gouges in the asphalt that were perpendicular to the airplane's direction of travel. The airplane came to rest upright about 80 yards from the initial impact point and erupted into flames. The center fuselage was burnt in its entirety and the wings were bent down and the tips were touching the ground. The floorboard behind the front seats was bent up and the aft fuselage and empennage were lying on the ground.

At 0856, the weather observation facility at the Yuma International Airport reported the wind from 080 degrees at 7 knots.

The airplane, which underwent its last annual inspection 22 hours prior to the accident (October 01, 2004), was not equipped with shoulder harnesses.

The pilot reported having accumulated a total of 800 flight hours, of which 640 hours were accumulated in the accident airplane.