- Date
- April 15, 2005, 08:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Yakutat, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9417GCessna U206E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 7, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20050415007709A
- Case key
- 61341
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 a nose down, and structural damage to the wing. A factor contributing to the accident was the soft sand.
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 commercial pilot routinely landed on the accident site beach to pickup mail. On the accident landing, the nose wheel dug into soft sand, and the airplane nosed down, damaging the left wing.
Factual narrative
On April 15, 2005, about 0800 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna U206E airplane, N9417G, sustained substantial damage when it nosed down during the landing roll on a beach, about 60 miles northwest of Yakutat, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Air Juneau Inc, dba Yakutat Coastal Airlines, Yakutat, as a visual flight rules (VFR) positioning flight under Title14, 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 April 18, the pilot said he was en route to a remote strip when he decided to land on a beach and pick up mail. He said he had landed on the beach hundreds of times over the years, but this time during the landing roll the nose wheel dug into soft sand, and the airplane nosed down. He said the left wing struck the ground, and received structural damage. The pilot said there were no known preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9417G
- Reported as
- Cessna U206E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U20601617
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-F, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Yakutat Coastal, doing business as Yakutat Coastal
- Registered owner
- Air Juneau Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Departed
- PAYA · Yakutat, AK
- Destination
- Yakutat, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 43
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 5,500 total · 4,000 in this make and model
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.