- Date
- September 16, 2005, 18:00 local (Sep 17, 2005, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Coldfoot, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2873EAeronca 7AC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 31, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20050916029169A
- Case key
- 62538
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 misjudgment of distance/altitude during the landing flare/touchdown, which resulted in an undershoot and subsequent nosing down of the airplane when the main landing gear tires contacted shallow water prior to the intended landing site.
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 private certificated pilot was landing on a gravel bar along a river. During the landing approach, the pilot said that the main landing gear tires contacted the surface of shallow water at the edge of the gravel bar. The airplane then nosed down and received damage to the propeller, wings, and the left wing lift strut.
Factual narrative
On September 16, 2005, about 1800 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Aeronca 7AC airplane, N2873E, sustained substantial damage when it nosed down at a remote landing area, about 56 miles northeast of Coldfoot, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The solo private certificated pilot was 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 23, the pilot reported that he was landing on a gravel bar along the middle fork of the Chandalar River. During the landing approach, the pilot said that the main landing gear tires contacted the surface of shallow water at the edge of the gravel bar. The airplane then nosed down and received damage to the propeller, wings, and the left wing lift strut.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2873E
- Reported as
- Aeronca 7AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-6456
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C1, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Carsten T. Seaton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Coldfoot, AK
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 770 total · 548 in this make and model · 116 in the last 90 days · 49 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.