- Date
- July 7, 2009, 12:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Skwentna, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N777YADouglas DC-3C
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 11, 2010
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration (Airworthiness)
- FAA report
- 20090707047609A
- Case key
- 74287
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
A fracture of the airplane's tailwheel shock absorber linkage during taxi, resulting in the collapse of the tailwheel.
Findings · 1
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 crew of a tailwheel-equipped airplane landed on a gravel-covered, off-airport site at the completion of a Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 cargo flight. The captain said that while taxiing to parking after an uneventful landing, he and the other pilot heard a loud “thump”, and he stopped the airplane. The crew’s inspection revealed that the airplane’s tailwheel had collapsed, and as a result, the fuselage adjacent to the tailwheel sustained substantial damage. A postaccident examination revealed a fractured shock absorber linkage, which was part of the tailwheel swivel assembly.
Factual narrative
On July 7, 2009, about 1200 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Douglas DC-3C airplane, N777YA, sustained substantial damage while taxiing after landing on a gravel-covered, off-airport site, about 24 miles west of Skwentna, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Bush Air Cargo, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) on-demand charter flight, under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. The airline transport captain, the commercial first officer, and the sole passenger, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight departed the Palmer Airport, Palmer, Alaska, about 1100. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on July 7, the captain reported that after an uneventful landing on the gravel-covered site, he elected to roll to the end, turn around, then back-taxi to parking at the opposite end of the site. He said that after completing the 180 degree turn, he and the other pilot heard a loud “thump”, and he stopped the airplane about mid-way along the site. The crew’s inspection revealed that the airplane’s tailwheel had collapsed, and as a result, the fuselage adjacent to the tailwheel sustained substantial damage. On July 10, a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector from the Anchorage Flight Standards District Office traveled to the operator’s maintenance facility in Girdwood, Alaska, and examined the airplane after it was recovered. The inspector reported finding a fractured tailwheel shock absorber linkage, part number 2115849-1, which was part of the tailwheel swivel assembly.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N777YA
- Reported as
- Douglas DC-3C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25634
- Airframe hours
- 25,950
- Engine
- Pratt & Whitney 1830-92, 1,200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Bush Air Cargo Inc
- Registered owner
- Bush Air Cargo Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- PAQ · Palmer, AK
- Destination
- Skwentna, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- runway 30, 3,500 × 100 ft, gravel
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 400 in this make and model · 5,000 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Age
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 21, 2009
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 13,000 total · 300 in this make and model · 69 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 1, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 788 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 N777YA · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.