- Date
- September 21, 2009, 14:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Seward, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N2601PPiper PA-22
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 19, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA - FSDO3
- FAA report
- 20090921049749A
- Case key
- 74789
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 takeoff, resulting in a loss of control and a nose over during the takeoff roll.
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 airline transport pilot and one passenger were taking off from a remote island beach in his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight when the accident occurred. The pilot related that as the airplane accelerated on the beach, the main landing gear wheels encountered soft sand, the airplane quickly slowed and then nosed over. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane, and that the accident could have been prevented if the airplane had larger tires, or if he had selected a firmer takeoff area.
Factual narrative
The airline transport pilot and one passenger were taking off from a remote island beach in his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight when the accident occurred. The pilot related that as the airplane accelerated on the beach, the main landing gear wheels encountered soft sand, the airplane quickly slowed and then nosed over. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane, and that the accident could have been prevented if the airplane had larger tires, or if he had selected a firmer takeoff area.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2601P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-22
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-2934
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dylan Honebrink
- Registered owner
- Spacek Craig A
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- NA · Seward, AK
- Destination
- NA · Seward, AK
- Airport
- NA · Na, runway 18
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
- 27
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,578 total · 92 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 9, 2009, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 616 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.