- Date
- July 29, 2003, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Tyonek, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N913SMCessna 185
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20030729037369A
- Case key
- 57623
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 during the landing roll, which resulted in a swerve and nose down.
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 was practicing touch-and-go landings on a remote lake in a float-equipped airplane. During the accident landing, the airplane veered left, the left float submerged, the left wing struck the water, and the airplane nosed down and sank. The airplane sustained structural damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. According to the pilot, there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On July 29, 2003, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, a float-equipped Cessna 185 airplane, N913SM, sustained substantial damage when the left wing struck the water following a loss of control during landing on a remote lake, located about 28 miles northwest of Tyonek, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated about 1430 from another remote lake located about 36 miles northwest of Tyonek. No flight plan was filed.
In a written statement, the pilot reported that he was practicing touch-and-go landings on three different lakes that are located within a five mile radius of each other. He said that while landing to the west on Coal Creek Lake, the airplane "veered quickly southeast", the left float submerged, the left wing struck the water, and the airplane nosed down, and sank. The airplane sustained structural damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage.
According to the pilot, there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N913SM
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 185-0091
- Airframe hours
- 4,170
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Osprey Air LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 12, 2003 · 70 hours before
- Departed
- Tyonek, AK
- Destination
- Tyonek, 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
- 42
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 150 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.