Accident Details
Probable Cause and Findings
The pilot's selection of an unsuitable off airport site for landing. A factor associated with the accident was high vegetation (brush and weeds) in the landing area.
Aircraft Information
Registered Owner (Current)
Analysis
On September 3, 1998, about 2020 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N8464Y, sustained substantial damage while landing at a remote, off airport site located about 40 miles east of Cordova, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger aboard received minor injuries. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight last departed the Merle K. Smith Airport, Cordova, about 1915. The destination was the accident site.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 4, beginning at 1015, the pilot related he and the airplane's owner, the sole passenger aboard, were landing at the remote site to go hunting. The pilot said during the landing roll, the main landing gear tires encountered brush and weeds, the airplane decelerated rapidly, and then nosed over. He also said there were no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane, and that the shoulder harnesses installed in the airplane saved him and the passenger from serious injury.
The airplane received substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Data Source
Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# ANC98LA139