page_title: Cessna 172
section_title: Accidents and incidents
hierarchical_section_title: Cessna 172 / Accidents and incidents
caption_attribution_description: English: The Cessna 172 Mathias Rust used for his famous flight from Finland to Moscow in 1987. It is now being displayed at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin Deutsch: Die Cessna 172, mit der Mathias Rust 1987 von Finnland nach Moskau flog als Ausstellungsstück im Deutschen Technikmuseum Berlin
context_page_description: The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company. First flown in 1955, more 172s have been built than any other aircraft. It was developed from the 1948 Cessna 170, using tricycle undercarriage, rather than a tail-dragger configuration.
  Measured by its longevity and popularity, the Cessna 172 is the most successful aircraft in history. Cessna delivered the first production model in 1956, and as of 2015, the company and its partners had built more than 44,000 units. The aircraft remains in production today.
  The Skyhawk's main competitors have been the Beechcraft Musketeer and Grumman AA-5 series, the Piper Cherokee, and, more recently, the Diamond DA40 and Cirrus SR20.
context_section_description: On February 13, 1964, Ken Hubbs, second baseman for the Chicago Cubs and winner of the Rookie of the Year Award and the Gold Glove Award, was killed when the Cessna 172 he was flying crashed near Bird Island in Utah Lake. 
  On October 23, 1964, David Box, lead singer for The Crickets on their 1960 release version of "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Don't Cha Know" and later a solo artist, was killed when the Cessna 172 he was aboard crashed in northwest Harris County, Texas, while en route to a performance. Box was the second lead vocalist for The Crickets to die in a plane crash, following Buddy Holly.
  On August 31, 1969, American professional boxer Rocky Marciano was killed when the Cessna 172 in which he was a passenger crashed on approach to an airfield outside Newton, Iowa.
  On September 25, 1978, a Cessna 172, N7711G, and Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collided over San Diego, California. There were 144 fatalities, two in the Cessna 172, 135 on the PSA Flight 182 and seven on the ground.
  On May 28, 1987, a rented Reims Cessna F172P, registered D-ECJB, was used by a German teenage pilot Mathias Rust to fly an unauthorized flight from Helsinki-Malmi Airport through Soviet airspace to land near the Red Square in Moscow, all without being intercepted by Soviet air defense.
  On April 9, 1990, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, collided head-on with a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172, N99501, while en route from Gadsden Municipal Airport to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The Cessna crashed, killing two occupants, but the Brasilia made a safe emergency landing.
  On January 5, 2002, high school student Charles J. Bishop stole a Cessna 172, N2371N, and intentionally crashed it into the side of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida, killing only himself and otherwise causing very little damage.
  On April 6, 2009, a Cessna 172N, C-GFJH, was stolen by a student from Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and entered United States airspace over Lake Superior. The plane was intercepted and followed by NORAD F-16s, finally landing on Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Missouri, after a seven-hour flight. The student pilot, a Canadian citizen born in Turkey, Adam Dylan Leon, formerly known as Yavuz Berke, was suffering from depression and attempted to commit suicide by being shot down. Instead, he was arrested shortly after landing. On November 3, 2009, he was sentenced to two years in a US federal prison after he pleaded guilty in August 2009 to all three charges against him: interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a stolen aircraft, and illegal entry. College procedures at the time permitted students access to aircraft and the keys were routinely left in the aircraft.
  On October 9, 2013, a passenger in G-BCYR made a successful emergency landing at Humberside Airport, United Kingdom, after the pilot was incapacitated. The passenger had no flying experience and was escorted by a Westland Sea King of the Royal Air Force while being talked down by flying instructors. G-BCYR was on a local flight from Sandtoft Airfield, Lincolnshire, when the incident occurred. The pilot later died in hospital. The incident was the basis of a documentary broadcast by Channel 4 on March 27, 2014.
caption: Mathias Rust's Cessna F172P, used in his flight from Helsinki to Moscow, on display at the German Museum of Technology, Berlin.
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