- Date
- December 16, 2004, 11:15 local (15:15 UTC)
- Place
- Nunapitchuk, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N496KCessna U206G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20041216034149A
- Case key
- 60733
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 inadequate compensation for gusty wind conditions, which resulted in a loss of directional control, and collision with a ditch. Factors contributing to the accident were an icy taxiway and wind gusts.
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 airline transport pilot was taxiing the airplane for takeoff on an icy taxiway in gusty wind conditions. He said a gust of wind pushed the airplane off the side of the icy taxiway, where it encountered a ditch and nosed over.
Factual narrative
On December 16, 2004, about 1115 Alaska standard time, a wheel-equipped Cessna U206G airplane, N496K, sustained substantial damage when it departed the taxiway while taxing for takeoff, encountered a ditch, and nosed over at the Nunapitchuk Airport, Nunapitchuk, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Katmai Air Leasing LLC, of Anchorage, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) positioning flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo airline transport pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company VFR flight following procedures were in effect.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on December 16, the pilot said he was taxing for takeoff, when a gust of wind forced the airplane off the icy taxiway. He said the airplane encountered a ditch and nosed over.
During a telephone conversation with the IIC on December 16, the FAA aviation safety inspector who examined the airplane at the accident site, said there appeared to be structural damage to the right wing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N496K
- Reported as
- Cessna U206G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U20603953
- Engine
- Continental IO-520F, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Katmai Air Leasing LLC, doing business as Katmai Air Service
- Registered owner
- Katmai Air Leasing LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Departed
- 16A · Nunapitchuk, AK
- Destination
- BET · Bethel, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 16A · Nunapitchuk, runway 36
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
- 27
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 1,900 in this make and model · 187 in the last 90 days · 63 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 320° at 20 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Temperature
- 25 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.