- Date
- August 10, 2001, 13:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Palmer, AK
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8090KStinson 108-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 15, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA, Anchorage Flight Standards
- FAA report
- 20010810036249A
- Case key
- 53215
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 area for an off-airport landing.
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 related he was landing at an off-airport site. During the landing roll, the left main tire struck a rock, damaging the tire and rim, as well as the adjacent fuselage structure.
Factual narrative
On August 10, 2001, about 1315 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Stinson 108-2 airplane, N8090K, received substantial damage while landing at an off-airport site on the Knik glacier, located about 25 miles southeast of Palmer, Alaska. The commercial pilot/operator and the three passengers were not injured. The flight departed Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1215. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
During a telephone interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on August 10, the pilot related he was landing the airplane at a site on the glacier that he had landed at several times before. On the accident flight, he said the left main tire hit a rock which blew the tire, and damaged the landing gear fuselage support structure and the cabin door frame. The pilot said there were no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane, and that he did not see the rock prior to impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8090K
- Reported as
- Stinson 108-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 108-3090
- Airframe hours
- 2,402
- Engine
- Franklin 6A4-165-B3, 165 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Jim C. Walton
- Registered owner
- 90K Flying Club, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 23, 2001 · 38 hours before
- Departed
- MRI · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- Palmer, 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
- 70
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- April 26, 2000
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,420 total · 236 in this make and model · 2,305 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.