N2561N

On July 13, 1996, about 0900 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped Piper PA-18-150 airplane, N2561N, sustained substantial damage while landing at a rural mining airstrip located 52 miles northeast of Kotzebue, Alaska. The solo, private pilot was not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight originated in Kotzebue, Alaska, about 0800.

The pilot reported that he was landing at a remote airstrip used to support his mining operation. He said during a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on August 13, that the airplane's right main landing gear collapsed after he experienced some directional control problems during the landing roll. After the right main gear collapsed, he said the right wing touched the ground, damaging the right wing spar, the right wing's lift struts, and the bottom stringer on the left side of the fuselage.

The pilot made temporary repairs to the airplane utilizing iron water pipe as a main landing gear leg, and by taping boards to the lift struts. The airplane was then ferried from the mining strip to Mc Grath, Alaska, where the pilot stopped for fuel. The main landing gear subsequently collapsed while he was taxiing for takeoff at Mc Grath. See NTSB Accident Report ANC96LA105 for the Mc Grath accident information.