- Date
- December 24, 2004, 11:40 local (15:40 UTC)
- Place
- Illiamna, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N9909ZCessna U206G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20041224034179A
- Case key
- 60767
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 the gusty wind conditions, which resulted in a loss of control, and the airplane nosing over. A factor contributing to the accident was the gusty wind condition.
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 commercial pilot was taxiing for takeoff in gusty wind conditions. He said as he turned the airplane abeam the wind, a strong gust lifted the left wing, and rolled the airplane upside down.
Factual narrative
On December 24, 2004, about 1140 Alaska standard time, a wheel-equipped Cessna U206G airplane, N9909Z, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over on the taxiway while taxing for takeoff, at the Illiamna Airport, Illiamna, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Lake Peninsula Air, of Port Alsworth, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) positioning flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The solo commercial 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 24, the owner of the airplane said the pilot told him he had dropped off a passenger, and was taxing for takeoff when a gust of wind from behind lifted the left wing and rolled the airplane over.
During a telephone conversation with the IIC on December 24, an FAA flight service station specialist said that at the time of the accident, wind velocity instruments at the Illiamna Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 33 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9909Z
- Reported as
- Cessna U206G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U20606740
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- David Wilder, doing business as Lake Penn Air
- Registered owner
- David Wilder
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Departed
- ILI · Illiamna, AK
- Destination
- AK51 · Port Alsworth, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- ILI · Illiamna, runway 35
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
- 26
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 1,580 total · 900 in this make and model · 90 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 21 knots, gusting 32
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 N9909Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.