- Date
- September 4, 2004, 18:00 local (Sep 5, 2004, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fairbanks, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9698SChampion 7GCBC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 24, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20040904024329A
- Case key
- 60185
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 selection of unsuitable terrain for landing, which resulted in the collapse of the right main landing gear during the landing roll. A factor contributing to the accident was rough and uneven terrain.
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 on a remote tundra-covered area that was rough and uneven. During the landing roll, the right main landing gear tire dropped into a hole. The pilot indicated that the right gear strut failed, which allowed the tire to rotate upward and strike the aft right wing lift strut. The strut buckled, and the right wingtip and propeller struck the ground.
Factual narrative
On September 4, 2004, about 1800 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Champion 7GCBC airplane, N9698S, sustained substantial damage when the right main landing gear collapsed during the landing roll at a remote landing area, about 40 miles southeast of Fairbanks, 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 airplane was operated by the pilot. The private certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at a private airstrip near Kenai, Alaska, about 1200. No flight plan was filed, nor was one required.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on September 23, the pilot reported that he was landing on a tundra-covered area, about 4 miles east of Gold King Creek. The landing area was oriented north/south, and was about 500 feet long. The pilot said that the surface was rough and uneven, and as he landed toward the north, the right main landing gear tire dropped into a hole during the landing roll. The pilot indicated that the right gear strut failed, which allowed the tire to rotate upward and strike the aft right wing lift strut. The right wing strut buckled, and the right wingtip and propeller struck the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9698S
- Reported as
- Champion 7GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 47
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Wesley J. Main
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Kenai, AK
- Destination
- Fairbanks, 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
- 25
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 369 total · 328 in this make and model · 22 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
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 N9698S · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.