- Date
- September 28, 2000, 19:00 local (Sep 29, 2000, 03:00 UTC)
- Place
- Slana, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Other
- Aircraft
- N5489HPiper PA-18-105
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Case key
- 51001
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 inadvertent touch down. A factor associated with the accident was deep snow on the airstrip.
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 making a low pass over a snow-covered airstrip, when he inadvertently allowed the main wheels to touch down. As the airplane touched down, the main wheels contacted deep snow on the runway, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wing lift struts, and the rudder. The pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane. The pilot did not submit a Pilot/Operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2).
Factual narrative
On September 28, 2000, about 1900 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped Piper PA-18-105 airplane, N5489H, sustained substantial damage while landing at a private airstrip located about 10 miles northeast of Slana, Alaska, at 62 degrees, 43 minutes north latitude, 143 degrees, 55 minutes west longitude. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from a private airstrip in Gakona, Alaska, about 1830.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on September 29, the pilot reported that while making a low pass over a snow-covered airstrip, he inadvertently allowed the main wheels to touch down. He said that as the airplane touched down, the main wheels contacted deep snow on the runway, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wing lift struts, and the rudder.
The pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
The pilot did not submit a Pilot/Operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2).
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5489H
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-105
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-80
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Chuck & Sandra Mcmahan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Gakona, 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
- 21
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 250 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
Other investigations on N5489H · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.