N1771C

On September 7, 1994, at 1300 Alaska daylight time, N1771C, a wheel equipped experimental James Chisum, Chisum-Scraps airplane, (a modified Piper, PA-12), nosed over during the landing rollout at a remote tundra strip located approximately 40 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska. The airplane, registered to the pilot-in-command, sustained substantial damage. The pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The pleasure flight, conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 for the purpose of recovering moose meat from a recent hunt, last departed the Fairbanks municipality at about 1230 and the intended destination was the site of the mishap. According to the pilot, visual meteorological conditions prevailed and personal acquaintances were aware of his flight itinerary.

During a telephone interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on the morning of September 8, 1994, the pilot reported that during the landing rollout, the right wheel began to settle into the soft soil and divert the plane away from the intended landing direction. The pilot applied left rudder and brake to counter the unintended ground track and the plane nosed over resulting in damage to the top of the rudder and left wing.