- Date
- April 5, 2000, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Delta Junction, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N549WBShort Brothers SC7
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20000405013479A
- Case key
- 50953
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 inadequate compensation for wind conditions during landing. Factors associated with the accident were an unfavorable wind, a crosswind, and an inadvertent swerve.
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
During a telephone conversation with an NTSB investigator, the commercial pilot reported that he was landing to the north, which required a correction for a left crosswind. He said that after landing and during the landing roll, a strong gust of wind veered the airplane to the right. He applied left rudder in an attempt to realign the airplane with the airstrip, but was unable to realign the airplane before the airplane's nose wheel struck a snow berm. The pilot related that wind conditions at the time of the accident were from the southwest at 20 knots, with peak gusts to 30 knots, and added that the airstrip was covered with ice. In his written report, dated May 5, 2000, the pilot wrote, in part: 'When landing to the north with a good wind from the north, on the south end of the strip, midway down the strip, the wind changed to the southwest at about 15 to 20 knots, with a very icy runway. I hit the snow berm along side of the runway, and bent the nose gear.' The airplane sustained substantial damage to the nose wheel bulkhead.
Factual narrative
On April 5, 2000, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Short Brothers SC7 airplane, N549WB, sustained substantial damage during landing at a remote airstrip, about 46 miles east of Delta Junction, Alaska, at latitude 64 degrees, 27 minutes north, and longitude 144 degrees, 56 minutes west. The flight was being conducted under Title 14, CFR Part 135, as a cargo flight, operated by Allwest Freight, Inc. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight originated at the Delta Junction airstrip, about 1445.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on April 6, the pilot reported that he was landing to the north, which required a correction for a left crosswind. He reported that during the landing roll, a strong gust of wind veered the airplane to the right. He said that he applied left rudder in an attempt to realign the airplane with the airstrip, but was unable to realign the airplane before the airplane's nose wheel struck a snow berm. He said that the airplane sustained substantial damage to the nose wheel bulkhead. The pilot related that wind conditions at the time of the accident were from the southwest at 20 knots, with peak gusts to 30 knots, and added that the airstrip was covered with ice.
The pilot submitted a written report to the NTSB dated May 5, 2000, and indicated that during the landing roll, the wind shifted. The pilot wrote, in part: "When landing to the north with a good wind from the north, on the south end of the strip, midway down the strip, the wind changed to the southwest at about 15 to 20 knots, with a very icy runway. I hit the snow berm along side of the runway, and bent the nose gear."
The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N549WB
- Reported as
- Short Brothers SC7
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1911
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331, 715 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Allwest Freight, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- D66 · Delta Junction, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- Pogo Mine, runway 36, 1,500 × 75 ft, gravel
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
- 51
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 20,000 total · 1,000 in this make and model · 20,000 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 20 knots, gusting 30
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 19 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.