Interesting and scary C-172SP

On Monday, March 24, 2003 at 4:32:53 PM UTC-8, Jack wrote:
Ok, let me try to make this quick. I am not as fortunate as many in here, I
have to rent a/c. I mostly rent 172's and 182's. Recently, I started
renting from a new company. About a month ago I took my two kids flying in
a C-172sp. The reg # was N219ME, based at KPDK in Atlanta. This weekend
I need to take a quick trip down to south Georgia for business. So my
sunday schedule was cleared for this purpose. Unfortunately I couldn't get
thru to schedule the a/c. I really wanted to fly that airplane. BTW,
that is a Millenium edition C-172 2000 model. Its really nice. That a/c
crashed on friday morning.

From eyewitness reports, the a/c was falling apart before it crashed. In
fact, many have stated that at least 1 wing was off before it ever hit the
ground. So far, they are saying that it was "structural failure". I was
the next person scheduled to take that airplane. Someone was watching over
me.

Does anyone know where I can get hold of the incident report from the NTSB
before the official report is released? I really want to keep up with this
investigation. Especially if they lean towards structural failure. That
would not bode well for Cessna selling many a/c. I hope that doesn't
happen.

to Rick Durden:

Do you or anyone else on this thread have access to any of the news reports from that crash? The NTSB report a couple of years after said that the plane dove and shed parts as it descended... but beyond that was pretty uninformative. I'm looking for witness reports or statements.

This and one other report from Nov 2002 are the only one's I've located. That report said a C172N pipeline patrol aircraft in Oklahoma had one of the nuts that hold a strut in place missing (and presumed to have backed off and departed the aircraft... before the break up). If so, no surprises that the wing folded and departed the aircraft...

..