- Date
- September 3, 2001, 20:15 local (Sep 4, 2001, 04:15 UTC)
- Place
- Tok, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5129YPiper PA-12
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 25, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20010903025119A
- Case key
- 54923
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 failure to abort the landing. Factors associated with the accident were the pilot's selection of an unsuitable landing area, and his failure to attain a proper touchdown point. An additional factor was a ditch.
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 to the east on a 700 feet long site. As the airplane's main wheels touched down, the airplane bounced. The pilot recovered from the bounce, and flew further down the runway and landed about midfield on the site. During the landing roll, while applying heavy braking, the left main wheel struck a small ditch at the end of the site, and the left main landing gear collapsed. The left wing struck the ground and sustained substantial damage. The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On September 3, 2001, about 2015 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped Piper PA-12 airplane, N5129Y, sustained substantial damage during landing at an off-airport site, about 30 miles west of Tok, Alaska. The solo certificated private pilot was 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 1945, from the Tok Airport, Tok.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on September 4, the pilot reported that he was landing to the east on a 700 feet long site. He said that as the airplane's main wheels touched down, the airplane bounced. He recovered from the bounce, and flew further down the runway and landed about midfield on the site. He said that during the landing roll, while applying heavy braking, the left main wheel struck a small ditch at the end of the site, and the left main landing gear collapsed. The left wing struck the ground and sustained substantial damage.
The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5129Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-1554
- Airframe hours
- 2,700
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Zachary D. Knaebel
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 15, 2001 · 180 hours before
- Departed
- TKJ · Tok, AK
- Destination
- TKJ · Tok, 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
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- June 21, 2000
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 440 total · 250 in this make and model · 340 as pilot in command · 130 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
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 N5129Y · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.