ANC04CA088

The private pilot reported he was landing his single-engine tricycle gear airplane at an off-airport site adjacent to a river. He indicated the nose wheel started to shimmy, and he elected to abort the landing. During the aborted landing attempt, the airplane encountered soft terrain and nosed over, sustaining substantial damage to the wings and fuselage.

On August 5, 2004, about 1245 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna 182F airplane, N3481U, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over following an aborted landing at the Kustatan River, about 24 miles northwest of Kenai, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by the pilot as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal cross-country flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The private pilot and sole passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight departed Homer, Alaska, about 1155.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on August 5, the pilot said he was landing on a hardpan area adjacent to the Kustatan River when the nose wheel started to shimmy. He said he attempted to abort the landing, but ran out of hard surface landing area. He said the airplane ran into a soft, swampy area, and nosed over. The pilot said there were no known mechanical anomalies with the airplane prior to the accident, and that the wings and propeller were damaged in the accident.