- Date
- October 7, 1999, 13:10 local (21:10 UTC)
- Place
- Yakutat, AK
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N85CGCessna A185E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 17, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19991007046679A
- Case key
- 47533
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's selection of an unsuitable landing area. A factor associated with the accident was soft terrain.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The certificated commercial pilot, with three passengers aboard, was landing on a remote soft, sand-covered river bank. After touchdown and during the landing roll, the right main landing gear leg collapsed, and the right wing struck the ground.
Factual narrative
On October 7, 1999, about 1310 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna A185E airplane, N85CG, sustained substantial damage during landing at an off airport site located about 20 miles east of Yakutat, Alaska, at 59.31 north latitude, 139.05 west longitude. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) on-demand passenger flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by Gulf Air Taxi, Inc., Yakutat, Alaska. The certificated commercial pilot, and three passengers aboard, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and VFR company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight originated at the Yakutat Airport, Yakutat, about 1245.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on October 7, the pilot said he was landing to the east on a soft, sand-covered river bank. He said that after touchdown and during the landing roll, the right main landing gear leg collapsed, and the right wing struck the ground.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N85CG
- Reported as
- Cessna A185E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18501927
- Airframe hours
- 5,943
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Gulf Air Taxi, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 14, 1999 · 56 hours before
- Departed
- YAK · AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 33
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,630 total · 1,630 as pilot in command · 90 in the last 90 days · 65 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 11 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N85CG · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.