N86901

On October 30, 2004, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Bellanca 8GCBC airplane, N86901, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during the landing roll at a remote off-airport site, located about 9 miles south of Skwentna, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo private certificated pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Merrill Field Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1415. No flight plan was filed, nor was one required.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on November 1, the pilot reported that he was landing on a snow-covered gravel bar. The pilot said that prior to landing, he made two passes over the site and visually checked the condition of the landing site before the accident landing. He said that during the landing roll, the main landing gear tires broke through the top layer of deep crusted snow, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained structural damage to the left wing and rudder. The pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.