N3996Z

On September 13, 1993, at 1500 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire wheel equipped Piper Pa-18-150 airplane, N3996Z, owned and operated by the pilot-in-command, doing business as Arctic Wilderness Lodge, crashed on a remote tundra strip approximately 80 miles south of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. At the time of the mishap, the airplane was being operated under 14 CFR Part 91 as a business flight. The flight last departed Happy Valley Lodge, approximately 7 miles from the mishap site, near the Toolik River. The pilot was attempting to land at the site to recover moose meat belonging to a hunting party. A company VFR flight plan was in effect and visual meteorological conditions prevailed.

The pilot told the NTSB Investigator-in-Charge, during a phone conversation on the afternoon of September 14, 1993, that approximately 200 feet from the approach end of the landing strip, the engine lost power and "sputtered as if someone had pulled the fuel mixture control". He pumped the engine throttle control several times but got only a minimal increase in RPM's. Upon touching down short of the landing strip, the airplane bounced and the engine regained additional RPM's. He then attempted to go-around but the engine lost power again. The pilot reported that the subsequent forced landing near the end of the strip required the use of heavy wheel breaking which resulted in the plane nosing over onto its back.

The pilot said that he drained the wing and engine fuel sumps prior to commencing the flight, about one hour earlier, and observed no contamination. At the time of the mishap, he believed that the left and right wing fuel tanks were each one quarter full and the belly tank contained 4 to 5 gallons of 100LL aviation gasoline.

The plane was sufficiently repaired and ferried to the Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, approximately eight flight hours away. During the flight, no problems were experienced with the powerplant. A subsequent tear down and inspection of the engine, including the carburetor, found nothing that would have contributed to the power interruption. The pilot reported that given that there were no problems found with the engine, the interruption in power was probably caused by the engine injesting a small amount of water.