NTSB Factual Report

On March 26, 2008, at 1430 central daylight time, a Cessna 172R, N724PG, operated by Poplar Grove Airmotive Inc., as a rental airplane, received substantial damage on impact with terrain after the airplane veered off runway 02 at Monroe Municipal Airport (EFT), Monroe, Wisconsin. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was not operating on a flight plan. Both pilots were uninjured. The flight originated from Poplar Grove Airport, Poplar Grove, Illinois, at 1315, and landed at Lake Lawn Airport, Delavan, Wisconsin, prior to landing at EFT.

The airplane was piloted by the right seat pilot when it landed long and bounced during touchdown prior to departing off the runway edge. The airplane then nosed over when it impacted a snow bank that was approximately 2,870 feet down and 35 feet to the right of the runway. Approximately 105 feet beyond the snow bank, in the direction of travel of the airplane, was a 100-foot deep quarry. There were two skid marks on runway 02 consistent with left and right main landing gear tires that began about 2,200 feet down the runway. At 1436, the recorded winds at the airport were 270 degrees at 10 knots with gusts at 17 knots. The airport did not have an air traffic control tower and was equipped with runway 12-30 (5,000 feet by 75 feet, asphalt) and runway 02-20 (3,000 feet by 75 feet, asphalt). The airplane fuselage was wrinkled and both wings were damaged. The right seat pilot reported that he accumulated 4 hours of flight time in the accident airplane make and model in the past 90 days, 1.2 hours in the past 30 days, and 1.2 hours in the past 24 hours. Inspection of the airplane revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's decision to land on the wrong runway for the existing wind conditions and his improper recovery from a bounced landing.