- Date
- September 11, 2007, 06:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Tok, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N82022Piper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report May 28, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20070911023439A
- Case key
- 66653
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 an unsuitable takeoff area and failure to maintain clearance from trees during takeoff. Contributing to the accident were soft, muddy terrain conditions.
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 airline transport pilot, with a hunting client aboard, was departing from a soft, 900-foot long, mud and gravel-covered off-airport site that had an area of standing water near the departure end. During the takeoff run, the pilot said he was able to get the airplane airborne before reaching the area of standing water, but as the airplane began to climb, it struck a stand of trees at the departure end of the site. The airplane sustained structural damage to the wings, fuselage, and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On September 11, 2007, about 0630 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N82022, sustained substantial damage during takeoff from an off-airport site, about 50 miles north of Tok, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) other work use flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airline transport pilot and the one passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the off-airport site, and was en route to the Tok Airport, Tok.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on September 11, the pilot reported that on the morning of the accident, he awoke to a thick layer of ground fog, which delayed his departure. The purpose of the flight was to transport a hunting client to the Tok Airport at the conclusion of his guided hunting trip. After the fog had cleared, the pilot said he preheated the airplane's engine, removed any accumulation of frost from the wings, and did a preflight inspection. He said that the soft, 900-foot long, mud and gravel-covered site had an area of standing water near the departure end. During his takeoff run the pilot said that he was able to get the airplane airborne before reaching the area of standing water, but as the airplane began to climb, it struck a stand of trees at the departure end of the site.
The airplane sustained structural damage to the wings, fuselage, and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot said that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N82022
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7809113
- Airframe hours
- 2,040
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Zachary D. Knaebel
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 2006 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- Tok, AK
- Destination
- TKJ · Tok, 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
- 30
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 1, 2007
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total · 1,500 in this make and model · 3,400 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 34 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 30, 2008, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 598 KB in all.
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 N82022 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.