ANC07LA095

The airline transport pilot was landing a twin-engine turboprop airplane at a remote lodge airstrip, which was about 1,000 feet long, and about 40 feet wide. During the landing roll, the nose landing gear strut collapsed when it encountered soft terrain.

On September 1, 2007, about 1230 Alaska daylight time, a twin-engine turboprop Short Brothers SC-7 airplane, N2088Z, sustained substantial damage when the nose landing gear strut collapsed during the landing roll at a remote lodge airstrip, about 82 miles east-northeast of McGrath, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country nonscheduled cargo flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by Arctic Circle Air Service Inc., Fairbanks, Alaska. The airline transport certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The flight originated at the Fairbanks International Airport about 1030. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a VFR flight plan was filed.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on September 4, the director of operations for the operator reported that the pilot was landing toward the northwest at the Mystic Lake Lodge. The gravel surfaced runway was about 1,000 feet long, and about 40 feet wide. During the landing roll, the nose landing gear strut collapsed when it encountered soft terrain.

On September 10, the director of maintenance for the operator reported that the fuselage received structural damage aft of the nose gear when the nose gear collapsed.