- Date
- March 19, 2011, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Aniak, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N5182HCessna A185F
- Defining event
- Taxi: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 20, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20110319008769A
- Case key
- 78643
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 inadvertent contact with a rut in the snow while taxiing, resulting in the collapse of the right main landing gear.
Findings · 2
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
While the pilot was taxiing the ski-equipped airplane to the runway, he inadvertently hit a rut in the snow, and the right main landing gear collapsed. He stated that he was taxiing the airplane fast enough to keep the tail off the ground. He said that the right main landing gear failed at the fuselage attach point, and the right wing struck the ground resulting in substantial damage to the right wing and aileron.
Factual narrative
While the pilot was taxing the ski-equipped airplane to the runway, he inadvertently hit a rut in the snow, and the right main landing gear collapsed. In a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge, the pilot stated that he was taxiing the airplane fast enough to keep the tail off the ground. He said that the right main landing gear failed at the fuselage attach point, and the right wing struck the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the right wing and aileron. Due to its remote location, the airplane was not examined by the NTSB.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5182H
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503326
- Engine
- Cont Motor IO 520 SERIES, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Vanderpool Robert W
- Registered owner
- Vanderpool Robert W
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- PANI · Aniak, AK
- Destination
- Red Devil, AK
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- PANI · Aniak
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
- 28
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 27, 2010
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,700 total · 1,700 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PANI
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 6, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 558 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.