- Date
- May 25, 2000, 21:00 local (May 26, 2000, 05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Nenana, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N43863Taylorcraft BC-12D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20000525010259A
- Case key
- 50963
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. A factor in this accident was the tailwind.
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 pilot said he was making his seventh practice takeoff from the approximately 950 feet long by 45 feet wide landing area which was located at the bottom of a bluff. He indicated that the airplane did not become airborne after 500 feet, so he reduced the power to idle and applied full braking to stop. He said the airplane nosed over, damaging the tail, rudder, and wing struts. The pilot added that when he climbed out of the airplane, he realized the accident takeoff roll was downwind.
Factual narrative
On May 25, 2000, about 2100 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Taylorcraft BC-12D airplane, N43863, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during an aborted takeoff from a private, gravel bar airstrip on the Tanana River, about 18 miles east of Nenana, Alaska, at 64 degrees, 40 minutes north latitude, 148 degrees, 30 minutes west longitude. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed.
The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge, during a telephone interview on June 6, that he was making his seventh practice takeoff from the approximately 950 feet long by 45 feet wide landing area which was located at the bottom of a bluff. He indicated that the airplane did not become airborne after 500 feet, so he reduced the power to idle and applied full braking to stop. He said the airplane nosed over, damaging the tail, rudder, and wing struts. The pilot added that when he climbed out of the airplane, he realized the accident takeoff roll was downwind.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N43863
- Reported as
- Taylorcraft BC-12D
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7522
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Wesley L. Alexander
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Destination
- FAI · Fairbanks, AK
- Airport
- runway 36, 950 × 60 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
- 50
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 860 total · 570 in this make and model · 714 as pilot in command · 27 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 100 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- 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 N43863 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.