- Date
- September 6, 2005, 15:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Aniak, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8624XCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 20, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Case key
- 62411
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 collision with brush during the landing flare. A factor contributing to the accident was high vegetation.
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 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight was landing at a remote airstrip. During the landing flare, the private pilot reported that the left wing of the airplane collided with high brush, and during the subsequent impact with terrain, the airplane received damage to the right wing, the right main landing gear, the propeller, and the stabilizer.
Factual narrative
On September 6, 2005, about 1530 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Cessna 180 airplane, N8624X, sustained substantial damage when it collided with bushes and the ground during the landing approach to a remote airstrip, about 53 miles southeast of Aniak, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The private certificated pilot, and the sole passenger, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and 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 7, the pilot's spouse reported that the pilot made a satellite phone call to her to report the accident. The pilot indicated that during the landing flare, the left wing of the airplane collided with high brush. During the subsequent impact with the ground, the airplane received damage to the right wing, the right main landing gear, the propeller, and the stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8624X
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18051024
- Engine
- Continental O-470-L, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jason W. Brooks
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Port Alsworth, AK
- Destination
- Aniak, AK
- Airport
- N/A · Cinnabar
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 415 total · 268 in this make and model · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Other investigations on N8624X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.