- Date
- September 22, 2001, 15:40 local (23:40 UTC)
- Place
- Mentasta, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8943Bellanca 7GCBC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20010922024569A
- Case key
- 54912
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 inadequate compensation for wind conditions while landing. Factors associated with the accident were the pilot's inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, and a variable wind.
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 portion of remote highway. As the airplane's main wheels touched down, the airplane bounced. As the pilot recovered from the bounce, a gust of wind from the left lifted the left wing, and the airplane drifted to the right. The airplane's right wing collided with a stand of trees and sustained substantial damage. The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On September 22, 2001, about 1540 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Bellanca 7GCBC airplane, N8943, sustained substantial damage during landing at an off-airport site, about 1 mile southeast of Mentasta Lake, Alaska. The solo 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 1340, from the Palmer Airport, Palmer, Alaska.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on September 28, the pilot reported that he was landing to the east on a portion of remote highway. He said that as the airplane's main wheels touched down, the airplane bounced. He said that during recovery from the bounce, a gust of wind from the left lifted the left wing, and the airplane drifted to the right. The airplane's right wing collided with a stand of trees and sustained substantial damage. The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8943
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 607-74
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Running Dog Publications, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- PAL · Palmer, AK
- Destination
- Mentasta, 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- July 27, 2001
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 975 total · 945 in this make and model · 975 as pilot in command · 118 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Temperature
- 39 °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 N8943 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.