- Date
- June 15, 2002, 11:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Kenai, AK
- NTSB coordinates
- 58.6333, -151.8256, outside the stated state
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4131MPiper PA-12
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 29, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20020615012769A
- Case key
- 54969
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, and the excessive use of the airplane's brakes, which resulted in a nose over. A contributing factor to the accident was a wind gust.
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 solo private pilot reported to the NTSB that he was landing on a remote river sandbar in a tail wheel-equipped airplane. He said that just after touchdown, a gust of wind from the left pushed the airplane to the right, and in an attempt to realign the airplane, he applied full left rudder and heavy braking action. As the airplane neared the end of the 900 foot long site, the airplane nosed over, and sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot said that he applied too much brake pressure in an attempt to stop the airplane before reaching the end of the site, and that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On June 15, 2002, about 1130 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Piper PA-12 airplane, N4131M, received substantial damage when it nosed over while landing at an off airport site located about 25 miles northwest of Kenai, 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 at the O'Malley Airstrip, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1000.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on June 16, the pilot reported that just after touchdown, a gust of wind from the left pushed the airplane to the right. The pilot said that in an attempt to realign the airplane, he applied full left rudder, in conjunction with heavy braking action. As the airplane neared the end of the 900 foot long site, the airplane nosed over, and sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot said that he applied too much brake pressure in an attempt to stop the airplane before reaching the end of the site.
The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4131M
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-3031
- Airframe hours
- 1,958.8
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lawrence L. Brown
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 2, 2001 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- ANC · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- ENA · Kenai, 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
- 55
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 900 total · 700 in this make and model · 850 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots, gusting 5
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 70 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 11, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 583 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.