- Date
- August 24, 2002, 13:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Gakona, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9994YBellanca 7ECA
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 18, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03
- FAA report
- 20020824024679A
- Case key
- 55706
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 directional control of the airplane, and his excessive use of the airplane's brakes during the landing roll, which resulted in the airplane nosing down. A contributing factor in the accident was wet, high grass along the runway edge.
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 private certificated pilot was landing the tailwheel-equipped airplane at a remote airport. During the landing roll, the pilot said the airplane hit a bump on the surface of the runway, which threw the airplane upward and to the right. The airplane's right main landing gear tire then entered an area of tall, wet grass along the right edge of the runway, pulling the airplane further to the right. The pilot said he applied the brakes, and the airplane nosed down along the right side of the runway. The airplane received damage to the propeller and the left wingtip. A postaccident inspection of the airplane by an FAA inspector revealed the left wing received damage to at least two wing ribs.
Factual narrative
On August 24, 2002, about 1345 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Bellanca 7ECA airplane, N9994Y, sustained substantial damage when the airplane nosed down during landing at the Chistochina Airport, about 23 miles north-northeast of Gakona, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a Title 14, CFR Part 91 visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The private certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Gulkana Airport, Glennallen, Alaska, about 1245.
On September 4, 2002, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector, Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), notified the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), that the pilot called her office on August 29, to report damage to the airplane. During a telephone conversation with the NTSB IIC on September 4, the pilot reported that during the landing roll at the Chistochina Airport, the airplane encountered a bump on the surface of the runway which threw the airplane upward and to the right. The airplane's right main landing gear tire then entered an area of tall, wet grass along the right edge of the runway, pulling the airplane further to the right. The pilot said he applied the brakes, and the airplane nosed down along the right side of the runway. The airplane received damage to the propeller and the left wingtip.
On September 16, the FAA inspector reported that she examined the airplane at the Chistochina Airport on September 9. She indicated the left wing received damage to at least two wing ribs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9994Y
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7ECA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8
- Airframe hours
- 1,965
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Warren A. Mitchell
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 16, 2001 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- PAGK · Gulkana, AK
- Destination
- CZO · Gakona, AK
- Airport
- CZO · Chistochina, runway 19, 2,060 × 90 ft, gravel
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
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- August 19, 2002
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 65 total · 7 in this make and model · 13 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.