- Date
- July 3, 2005, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Excursion Inlet, AK
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N39AKCessna 207A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 27, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20050703017379A
- Case key
- 61871
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 failure to maintain clearance from a building during taxi from landing, which resulted in structural damage to the left wing when it struck the building.
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 of the on-demand air taxi flight was back-taxiing on a remote airstrip when he saw another airplane on short final for the airstrip. In an effort to quickly clear the landing area, he turned too close to a small building, striking the building with the left wing, sustaining structural damage to the left wing.
Factual narrative
On July 3, 2005, about 1430 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna 207A airplane, N39AK, sustained substantial damage when its left wing impacted a small building during taxi after landing at a remote dirt airstrip at Excursion Inlet, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Wings of Alaska, of Juneau, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) on-demand air taxi flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135, when the accident occurred. The commercial certificated pilot and five passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight originated at Juneau, about 1410.
In a written statement submitted to the National Transportation Safety Board dated July 12, the president of the company reported that after landing, while back-taxiing on the runway, the pilot noticed another airplane on short final for the airstrip. He wrote that in an effort to expedite clearing the landing area, the pilot turned too close to a small building. The left wing struck the building, resulting in structural damage to the wing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N39AK
- Reported as
- Cessna 207A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20700597
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Wings of Alaska, doing business as Wings of Alaska
- Registered owner
- Wings Airline Services Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Departed
- 5Z1 · Juneau, AK
- Destination
- EXI · Excursion Inlet, 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
- 37
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Flight hours
- 1,700 total · 400 in this make and model · 240 in the last 90 days · 80 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 N39AK · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.