- Date
- June 26, 2002, 14:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Kotzebue, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N62136Piper PA-11
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 8, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA Fairbanks FSDO-01
- FAA report
- 20020626013449A
- Case key
- 55077
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 excessive braking action while landing on a sandbar, which resulted in a nose over.
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 was landing the airplane on a sandbar. He said that during the landing roll he applied the brakes too heavily, and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On June 26, 2002, about 1400 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-11 airplane, N62136, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over while landing on a sandbar in the Omar River, about 35 miles east of Kotzebue, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the Kotzebue Airport, Kotzebue, about 1400.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on June 27, the pilot said he made several passes over the sandbar to check its suitability for landing. He said the approach and landing were normal, but he braked too heavily during the landing roll, and the airplane nosed over.
The pilot said the wings, tail, and lift struts were damaged during the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N62136
- Reported as
- Piper PA-11
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 11-1439
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C, 108 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Chad Cyrus
- Registered owner
- Chad Cyrus
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- PAOT · Kotzebue, AK
- Destination
- Kotzebue, 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
- 30
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- January 6, 2002
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 160 total · 102 in this make and model · 114 as pilot in command · 86 in the last 90 days · 49 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 19, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 743 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.