Accident Details
Probable Cause and Findings
The pilot's selection of unsuitable terrain for landing, which resulted in a nose over during the landing roll. Factors contributing to the accident were a short landing area, and pressure to conduct the flight, which the pilot stated was a rescue situation.
Aircraft Information
Registered Owner (Current)
Analysis
On August 13, 2005, at estimated time of 1300 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N9950Q, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during the landing roll at a remote area, about 56 miles north of Wiseman, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area 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, and no flight plan was filed.
On August 18, 2005, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), was notified of the accident by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel. Telephone messages were left for the pilot by the NTSB IIC requesting additional information, but the pilot was conducting remote hunting/guiding operations in the Brooks Range, north of Wiseman. Subsequent phone conversations with FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), personnel, Fairbanks, Alaska, revealed that the accident airplane received damage to its propeller and wing lift strut. The lift strut was reported to have been replaced by a mechanic in the field, and the pilot continued his business operations.
On October 26, the NTSB Alaska Regional Office received a Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, (NTSB Form 6120.1/2) from the pilot. The pilot stated that at the request of an Alaska State Trooper, Coldfoot, Alaska, he landed in a remote drainage to pick up a stranded hunter who had been at a camp for the previous five days because the pilot of another hunt/guide business damaged a propeller blade. The accident pilot reported that the landing area was short, he had difficulty stopping, and his airplane nosed over in swampy, grassy area. After the accident, the Alaska State Trooper flew the pilot and the stranded hunter out, and then flew the accident pilot and a mechanic back in. The mechanic changed the propeller and replaced a wing lift strut.
The pilot indicated that the landing area was, "...not a good place to land, and I would not have gone in there if it had not been a rescue situation."
Data Source
Data provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). For more information on this event, visit the NTSB Records Search website. NTSB# ANC05CA152