N8653Y

On September 13, 1994, at 0930 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire wheel equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N8653Y, owned and operated by the pilot-in-command, experienced an on ground collision with terrain during takeoff at Cape Douglas across from Kodiak Island on the Alaska Peninsula. The private certificated pilot and his one passenger, the sole occupants, were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. At the time of the mishap, the flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot left an itinerary of his flight schedule with his wife and reported that visual meteorological conditions prevailed in the area at the time of the accident.

During a telephone interview on the afternoon of September 15, 1994, the pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge that during a beach takeoff the right main landing gear rolled onto a rough surface depression resulting in the collapse of the landing gear and collateral damage to the right wing. The pilot indicated that a cross-wind from the south at 15 knots was blowing at the time of the accident.