- Date
- April 15, 2000, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N88472Piper J3C-65
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20000415042279A
- Case key
- 50954
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 a frozen puddle.
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 private pilot was landing on a frozen mud flat. During landing roll, the main landing gear wheels broke through a large frozen puddle, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing lift struts, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On April 15, 2000, about 1430 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper J3C-65 airplane, N88472, sustained substantial damage while landing at an off airport site, about 12 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, at 61 degrees, 12 minutes north latitude, 149 degrees, 50 minutes west longitude. The certificated private pilot, and the one passenger aboard, were not injured. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated about 1400, from the Lake Hood Airstrip, Anchorage, Alaska.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on April 17, the pilot reported that during the landing roll on a frozen mud flat, the main landing gear wheels broke through a large frozen puddle, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing lift struts, vertical stabilizer, and rudder.
The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N88472
- Reported as
- Piper J3C-65
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 16096
- Airframe hours
- 4,000
- Engine
- Continental 12-F, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Norman D. Ashley
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 15, 1999 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- Z41 · Anchorage, AK
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
- 66
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 3,000 in this make and model · 3,000 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 37 °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 N88472 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.