Cessna 172N accident near Durango, Colorado, June 30, 2000
On June 30, 2000 at about 2:50 pm local time, a Cessna 172N, registered N4642J, was substantially damaged in an accident near Durango, Colorado (Animas Airpark airport). It was an instructional flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The pilot prematurely flaring the airplane for landing, resulting in a hard landing, followed by an inadvertent pilot-induced porpoise and loss of directional control. A factor was the fence.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- June 30, 2000 · about 2:50 pm local time
- Place
- Durango, Colorado · Animas Airpark
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172N · all 172Ns on the register
- Registration
- N4642J · no longer on the register · serial 17273658
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The solo student planned to make a touch-and-go landing on runway 1. The takeoff and landing approach were uneventful. The student said he deployed 20 degrees of flaps and slowed the airplane to about 65 knots. As he approached the runway threshold, he closed the throttle and raised the nose. The airplane 'started to go up and down too rapidly.' The main landing gear 'hit hard' and the airplane 'bounced off the ground and . . .started to torque to the left. The airplane then landed on its nose gear and skidded left off the runway,' coming to rest against a barbed wire fence.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: student
- Ratings: single-engine land
- Flight time: 16 hours in all; 16 in this make and model; 13 in the last 90 days; 4 in the last 30 days; 2 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 8,450 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, June 11, 2000; 20 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 2,300 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Lycoming O-320-H2AD (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: 00C at 2:50 pm
- Destination: OOC
- Flight plan: not recorded
- Runway 1, 5,010 ft by 50 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: not recorded; clear
- Temperature: 63°F (17°C), dew point 46°F (8°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 2:53 pm from DRO, 9 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N4642J the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.