N11361

On August 8, 2001, about 2230 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna 150 airplane, N11361, received substantial damage while landing on a gravel bar on the Salcha river, located about 35 miles northwest of Delta Junction, Alaska. The private pilot received serious injuries; the sole passenger was not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight departed Delta Junction about 2130, and operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The destination was the Salcha river.

During a telephone interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on August 14, the pilot related he was taking his son on a hunting trip in the vicinity of the Salcha river. He noted his Cessna 150 had been modified with a 180 horsepower Lycoming engine, and had been converted to a tailwheel configuration. He said he selected a gravel bar to land on, and that during the landing roll, as he applied maximum braking, the airplane went to the right and into a ditch. He said he broke his right arm during the crash, and that there were no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane.