- Date
- November 28, 2000, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Wasilla, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N8206VCessna 180H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20001128041959A
- Case key
- 50717
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The pilot's selection of an unsuitable landing/taxi area. A factor associated with the accident was weak ice.
Analysis
The certificated airline transport pilot related that he landed on the surface of a frozen lake, and was taxiing toward the shore. He said that as the airplane neared the shoreline, the left tire rolled over an area of grass protruding through the ice. As the tire passed over the grass, it broke through the ice, and the left wing struck the ice. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
Factual narrative
On November 28, 2000, about 1500 Alaska standard time, a tundra tire equipped Cessna 180H airplane, N8206V, sustained substantial damage while taxiing after landing on a remote lake, about 1 mile northwest of Wasilla, Alaska, at latitude 61 degrees, 37.1 minutes north, and longitude 149 degrees, 36.5 minutes west. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo airline transport pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated about 1450, from a private airstrip located about 2 miles northwest of Wasilla.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on November 30, the pilot related that he landed on the surface of a frozen lake, and was taxiing toward the shore. As the airplane neared the shoreline, the left tire rolled over an area of grass protruding through the ice. As the tire passed over the grass, it broke through the ice, and the left wing struck the ice. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
The pilot did not submit a Pilot/Operator report (NTSB form 6120.1/2).
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8206V
- Reported as
- Cessna 180H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18051708
- Engine
- Continental O-470, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Michael J. Koskovich
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
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
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 19,990 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft overcast
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.