N3831G

On July 31, 1999, about 1100 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 206 airplane, N3831G, sustained substantial damage while landing on a remote airstrip, about 12 miles east of Talkeetna, Alaska, about latitude 62 degrees, 10.3 minutes north, and longitude 150 degrees, 03.8 minutes west. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area business flight under Title 14 CFR Part 91 when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The private certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.

On August 16, 1999, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations inspector, Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), reported he followed up on an initial report of minor damage to the airplane. The inspector verified that about four feet of the left wing leading edge was damaged. The wing ribs and the wing spar were also damaged.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on August 17, 1999, the pilot reported he was landing at the Bald Mountain airstrip as part of his mining business. The strip is oriented east/west, and its elevation is approximately 3,600 feet msl. The pilot said he was landing toward the west. The airstrip is about 1,000 feet long, and 30 feet wide. During the landing roll, the pilot said he could not stop the airplane before running off the end of the airstrip, and the nose wheel struck several rocks about 50 feet off the end of the strip. The nose wheel then separated from the nose wheel strut. The airplane nosed down and the left wing collided with rocky terrain. The pilot said he saw what appeared to be hydraulic fluid on and around the left main tire, but he did not examine the brake cylinder.

In the narrative portion of the Pilot/Operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2) submitted by the pilot, the pilot said that when he applied the brakes during the landing roll, the left brake was soft. After the accident, he saw the left main tire was covered by brake fluid.