N1789

On May 19, 2000, about 1045 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 185F airplane, N1789, sustained substantial damage while landing on runway 25 at the Goose Bay airstrip, about 9 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, at latitude 61 degrees, 23.67 minutes north, and longitude 149 degrees, 50.73 minutes west. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area government flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Marshall Service. The first pilot, a commercial certificated pilot, and the second pilot, an airline transport pilot, received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Anchorage International airport, Anchorage, Alaska, at 0905.

At 1530, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), was contacted by the aviation safety officer for the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) division, of the U.S. Marshall Service, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The safety officer reported the pilots were conducting local area recurrent training at the Goose Bay airstrip. The gravel surface airstrip is 3,000 feet long, and 75 feet wide. The first pilot made about eight landings. On the next landing, the pilot landed about 12 to 14 feet to the right of the unmarked center of the runway. The safety officer reported that when the pilot attempted to return to the center of the runway, he momentarily over-controlled the airplane, and the airplane veered to the right, off the right side of the runway. The pilot inadvertently applied excessive braking, locking the brakes, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane received damage to the propeller, engine mount, left wing lift strut, the vertical stabilizer, and the rudder.

The NTSB Pilot/Operator Report submitted by the U.S. Marshall Service, included written statements from each pilot, and a narrative description of the accident by the aviation safety officer for JPATS. The report indicated the pilots were conducting recurrent training in a tailwheel airplane. The second pilot was initially flying from the left seat, and made three takeoff and landings. He then switched to the right seat, and made one takeoff and landing. The second pilot did not hold a flight instructor certificate, and did not hold a U.S. Marshall Service check-pilot designation.

The first pilot then completed 10 takeoff and landings from the left seat. On the final landing, the first pilot lost control of the airplane. The first pilot had accrued about 32 hours in the accident airplane make and model. The NTSB Pilot/Operator Report did not list any flight experience for the first pilot in the previous 90 days.

The closest official weather observation station is Anchorage, which is located 9 nautical miles south of the accident site. At 1053, an Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) was reporting, in part: Wind, 110 degrees (true), varying between 020 and 180 degrees, at 7 knots; visibility, 10 statute miles in light rain; clouds and sky condition, 2,800 feet broken, 4,000 feet overcast; temperature, 46 degrees F; dew point, 39 degrees F; altimeter, 29.80 inHg.