- Date
- April 1, 2008, 09:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ugashik, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5840ZPiper PA-22
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03
- FAA report
- 20080401831899A
- Case key
- 67752
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 unsuitable terrain for landing, which resulted in a nose over. A factor contributing to the accident was water on the surface of the ice-covered lake.
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 pilot was landing a tailwheel and tundra tire-equipped airplane on an ice-covered lake. During the landing roll, the main landing gear tires encountered an area of water, which rapidly slowed the airplane, resulting in a loss of control and a nose over. The airplane received structural damage to the wings, wing lift struts, and the vertical stabilizer.
Factual narrative
On April 1, 2008, about 0900 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel and tundra tire-equipped Piper PA-22 airplane, N5840Z, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during the landing roll at a remote, ice-covered lake, about 15 miles northeast of Ugashik, Alaska. The airplane was operated by the pilot as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airline transport certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the Ugashik Airport, about 0830.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), Anchorage, Alaska, reported that he received a telephone call from the pilot. The pilot told the inspector that during the landing roll on the lake, the main landing gear tires encountered an area of water, and the airplane nosed over. The airplane received structural damage to the wings, wing lift struts, and the vertical stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5840Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-22
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-9694
- Airframe hours
- 3,954
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235C2, 108 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Ronald B.Briggs
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 13, 2007 · 80 hours before
- Departed
- 9A8 · Ugashik, 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
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,000 total · 1,200 in this make and model · 6,000 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 34 °F
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 N5840Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.