- Date
- February 27, 2005, 15:43 local (19:43 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N6174DPiper PA-22
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 8, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA, Anchorage Flight Standards District Office
- Case key
- 61242
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 excessive taxi speed during a turn while taxiing from landing, which resulted in the collapse of the left main landing gear, and structural damage to the fuselage.
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 pilot had landed his ski-equipped tailwheel airplane on a frozen seaplane airstrip. He reported that as he turned the airplane to the right from the landing site toward his parking area, the left main landing gear ski dug into the snow, and the left main landing gear collapsed, resulting in structural damage to the fuselage adjacent to the main landing gear attachment cluster. The pilot indicated that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On February 27, 2005, about 1543 Alaska standard time, N6174D, a ski-equipped Piper PA-22 airplane, converted from a nose wheel to a tailwheel configuration, sustained substantial damage when the left main landing gear collapsed while landing on the frozen Lake Hood Seaplane Base airstrip, Anchorage, Alaska. The private pilot/airplane owner and the sole passenger were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 local personal flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The operator of the airplane was the pilot/owner.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on March 1, the pilot related he had landed on the ice to the east, and was turning the airplane to the right to taxi to his parking spot, when the left ski dug in and the right wing came up. The left main landing gear subsequently collapsed, and the left wing struck the ice. The pilot related that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane.
The extent of the damage to the airplane could not be determined until April 1, when the airplane was partially disassembled for repairs. Two NTSB investigators examined the airplane, and discovered substantial damage to the fuselage crossover tube near the left main landing gear attachment cluster. The aviation mechanic repairing the airplane noted that he had to cut a portion of the steel tubing from the crossover tube, and make repairs by welding a thicker tube piece into the void. Other portions of the gear attachment cluster had strengthening steel splices added by welding. The mechanic noted that an FAA Form 337, Major Repair or Alteration, would be completed for the repair work.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6174D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-22
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-4821
- Engine
- Lycoming O-3601A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Richard L. Davis
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Airport
- LHD · Lake Hood Seaplane, runway 27, 5,000 × 150 ft, snow
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
- 46
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 301 total · 301 in this make and model · 226 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 10° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.68 inHg
- Observed at
- PANC
Other investigations on N6174D · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.