- Date
- August 22, 2003, 21:30 local (Aug 23, 2003, 05:30 UTC)
- Place
- Noatak, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N35CLCloud-Wag Aero Sportsmen
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report March 2, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA, Fairbanks Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20030822035149A
- Case key
- 57764
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 misjudgment of the airplane's distance and speed, which resulted in the airplane not attaining the proper landing touchdown point and overrunning the landing site.
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 his homebuilt tailwheel airplane at a remote, off-airport site. He said he made the landing approach too high and too fast, and the airplane touched down farther down the site than he intended. He was unable to stop it before it overran the end of the landing site and encountered brush and soft terrain. The main landing gear subsequently collapsed, and the airplane received structural damage to the left wing.
Factual narrative
On August 22, 2003, about 2130 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Cloud-Wag Aero Sportsmen homebuilt airplane, N35CL, sustained substantial damage when the airplane overran an off-airport site during landing, and the main landing gear collapsed. The accident site was approximately 10 miles north of Noatak, Alaska. The private pilot and sole passenger were not injured. The Title 14, CFR Part 91 personal flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight departed Kotzebue, Alaska, about 2100, and the destination was the off-airport site.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) on August 25, at 0700, the pilot related that he and the passenger were on a hunting trip. He said he was landing to the west on the 500 to 600 foot long site, and made the landing approach too high and too fast. He indicated that the airplane touched down too far down the runway, and he couldn't stop it before it went off the end of the site, encountered brush and soft terrain, and the main landing gear collapsed. The pilot reported that in addition to the main landing gear, the left wing was damaged, and the left aileron would not function after the accident. He said he was unaware of any preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35CL
- Reported as
- Cloud-Wag Aero Sportsmen
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 353
- Airframe hours
- 460
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Zebulon R. Scherer
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · May 1, 2003 · 26 hours before
- Departed
- OTZ · Kotzebue, AK
- Destination
- Noatak, 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
- 22
- Injuries
- None
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Last flight review
- April 1, 2002
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 250 total · 157 in this make and model · 205 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 48 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.