- Date
- July 28, 2002, 20:00 local (Jul 29, 2002, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Port Alsworth, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8995DPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 30, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20020728027029A
- Case key
- 55402
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 during the landing roll, resulting in a nose over. A factor associated with 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 airline transport pilot was landing a tailwheel-equipped airplane on a mountain ridge top. During the landing roll, a gust of wind lifted the tail, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the rudder, and both wing lift struts. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On July 28, 2002, about 2000 Alaska daylight time, a tundra-tire, tailwheel-equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N8995D, sustained substantial damage when the airplane nosed over during landing at an off-airport site, about 10 miles west of Port Alsworth, Alaska. The solo airline transport 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 a private airstrip located in Port Alsworth.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on July 29, the pilot reported that he was landing to the northwest on a mountain ridge top. The pilot said that during the landing roll, a gust of wind lifted the tail, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the rudder, and both wing lift struts.
The pilot stated that there were no preaccident anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8995D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 186403
- Airframe hours
- 3,023.9
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320B2B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- William F. Graham
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 27, 2002 · 100 hours before
- Departed
- Port Alsworth, AK
- Destination
- Port Alsworth, 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
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- April 28, 2002
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 6,200 total · 250 in this make and model · 6,000 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 15 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 16, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 763 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.
Other investigations on N8995D · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.