- Date
- September 22, 2001, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Paxson, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N3831GCessna U206
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA, Anchorage Flight Standards
- FAA report
- 20010922039549A
- Case key
- 54913
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 maintain clearance from a sign while taxiing after landing in mixed rain and snow. Factors associated with the accident are reduced visibility conditions due to the snow and rain.
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 reported he made an unplanned, precautionary landing during a cross country flight due to deteriorating weather conditions. After landing at a remote lodge airstrip, he had difficulty seeing a sign, and just before striking the sign, he applied the brakes and attempted to turn away from it. The left wing struck the sign, and the nose gear collapsed. The pilot said he had difficulty seeing the sign due to the reduced visibility in rain and snow.
Factual narrative
On September 22, 2001, a Cessna U206 airplane, N3831G, received substantial damage when it collided with a sign after landing at the McLaren Lodge airstrip, located about 32 miles west of Paxson, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger aboard were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight operated without a flight plan in visual meteorological conditions. The flight departed the pilot's private airstrip near Talkeetna, Alaska, about 1400, and was en route to a remote landing site north of Paxson.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 24, the pilot related he encountered poor visibility in mixed rain and snow, and lowering clouds. He elected to make a precautionary landing at the McLaren lodge, and struck a dilapidated sign with the left wing during the taxi from landing. He said just prior to striking the sign, he applied maximum braking, and attempted to turn away from the sign. As he initiated the turn, the nose gear collapsed. The pilot said the rain and snow on the windshield made it difficult to see the sign.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3831G
- Reported as
- Cessna U206
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U206-0831
- Airframe hours
- 6,681
- Engine
- Continental IO520F, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Leonard W. Kragness
- Registered owner
- Denali Evolvement, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 25, 2001 · 91 hours before
- Departed
- 3AK3 · Talkeetna, AK
- Destination
- Paxson, AK
- Airport
- McLaren River Lodge
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
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Unknown, Unknown
- Last flight review
- March 6, 2001
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 7,000 in this make and model · 15,000 as pilot in command · 250 in the last 90 days · 80 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 32 °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 N3831G · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.