N7243TCessna 172A · 1959

On July 27, 2017, about 2030 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 172A airplane, N7243T, collided with an airport perimeter fence during takeoff, and subsequently impacted terrain near Enumclaw Airport (WA77), Enumclaw, Washington. The private pilot and the student pilot sustained serious injuries; another passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered to the student pilot and operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the local flight.

In the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report (form 6120.1), the student pilot reported that he had no knowledge of the flight, and that he could not recall any details surrounding the accident. He also reported that the operator of the airplane at the time of the accident was the private pilot. After several attempts, the NTSB investigator-in-charge was unable to establish contact with the private pilot, who did not possess a current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman medical certificate; his most recent medical certificate expired in 1992. The student pilot stated that he was under the impression that the private pilot was current.

A witness located at the airport reported that the airplane was doing touch-and-go landings. During the last landing, the airplane touched down near the departure end of the runway, attempted to stop, skidding the left main tire, and with approximately 40 yards remaining, added power for the takeoff attempt. The airplane travelled off the end of the runway, through the grass before it collided with the airport perimeter fence.

The airplane came to rest in a nose-down position and was oriented in a westerly direction about 400 ft east of the departure end of runway 07. The airplane's landing gear tracks were observed throughout the grass at the end of the runway. The left main landing gear tire left a long skid mark visible on the runway; main and nose landing wheel tracks were visible in the grass until about 20 ft from the fence.

The propeller was separated and located 23 ft southwest of the airplane. One blade was imbedded in the ground, while the other blade was observed relatively undamaged. The nose gear was broken and pushed up and to the right, the engine was pushed back into the firewall, and the aft fuselage was wrinkled and showed compression damage on the right side. The flaps were found extended at 40°. The mixture and throttle controls were set at full rich and maximum power. The Hobbs meter displayed 1,041.7 hours, with a tach time of 772.51 hours. The airplane had two strands of barbed wire wrapped around it, which extended from its nose to tail and back to its nose. The barbed wire passed between the inboard end of the right elevator control surface and the tail cone.

Leaves and tree debris were spread on the path between the runway and the wreckage; the top rail of the fence was located on the path and was bent. The barbed wire chain link fence on the east end of the runway was depressed at the same spacing as the left, right, and nose wheel lateral spacing on the airplane which indicated that the landing gear contacted the top of the fence and took the barbed wire along as the airplane passed over the fence. About 258 ft of the top rail was missing from the fence.

Examination of the recovered airframe and engine did not reveal any evidence of a preexisting mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. The complete engine and airframe examination reports are appended to this accident in the public docket.

In the conversation with the student pilot's flight instructor, he indicated that, during the instructional flights, him and the student pilot did not practice landings, and that the student pilot had never executed any landings on his own.