- Date
- May 11, 2008, 11:57 local (19:57 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N323KTde Havilland DHC-2
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20080511836989A
- Case key
- 68009
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 inadvertent activation of the main landing gear brakes during the recovery from a bounced landing.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The commercial certificated pilot was landing a wheel ski-equipped airplane at the conclusion of a positioning flight on a hard surface runway. The director of operations for the operator reported that the airplane bounced on the right main landing gear wheel during the initial flare/touchdown. As the airplane made runway contact with both main wheels a second time, the wheels appeared to be locked, producing skid marks on the runway. The airplane nosed down, and the propeller struck the runway. The airplane fell back onto the tailwheel, which resulted in a broken tailwheel strut, and structural buckling of the aft fuselage bulkhead. The director of operations reported that the airplane did not have a mechanical malfunction, and said that the pilot may have had his feet on the brakes when the airplane touched down the second time.
Factual narrative
The commercial certificated pilot was landing a wheel ski-equipped airplane at the conclusion of a positioning flight on a hard surface runway. The director of operations for the operator reported that the pilot bounced while landing on the right main landing gear wheel during the initial flare/touchdown. As the airplane made runway contact with both main wheels a second time, the wheels appeared to be locked, producing skid marks on the runway. The airplane nosed down, and the propeller struck the runway. The airplane fell back onto the tailwheel, which resulted in a broken tailwheel strut, and structural buckling of the aft fuselage bulkhead. The director of operations reported that the airplane did not have a mechanical malfunction, and said that the pilot may have had his feet on the brakes when the airplane touched down the second time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N323KT
- Reported as
- de Havilland DHC-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1022
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-14B, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Rust's Flying Service Inc., doing business as K2 Aviation
- Registered owner
- Rust Properties LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Kahiltna Base, AK
- Destination
- PATK · Talkeetna, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- PATK · Talkeetna, runway 18, 3,500 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 67
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 9,000 total · 1,600 in this make and model · 12 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.62 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK
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 N323KT · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.