- Date
- August 17, 2012, 18:30 local (Aug 18, 2012, 02:30 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7863DPiper PA-18A 150
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Runway excursion
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 19, 2012
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA Anchorage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20120817018099A
- Case key
- 84776
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 decision to land on a short, wet, off-airport landing site, which resulted in a runway excursion.
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
The pilot was landing a tundra-tire and tailwheel-equipped airplane on a short, wet off-airport site that was on the top of a small butte. He was unable to stop the airplane in the available landing area, and the airplane rolled over an embankment, coming to rest approximately 50 feet downhill in a shallow creek bed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. The pilot indicated there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was landing a tundra-tire and tailwheel-equipped airplane on a short, wet off-airport site that is on the top of a small butte. He was unable to stop the airplane in the available landing area, and the airplane rolled over an embankment, coming to rest approximately 50 feet downhill in a shallow creek bed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. The pilot indicated there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. A completed copy of NTSB Form 6120.1, Pilot/Operator Accident Report, was not submitted by the pilot as requested.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7863D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18A 150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-6012
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Talkeetna, AK
- Destination
- Talkeetna, 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
- 37
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Unknown
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,000 total · 100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.84 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK, 50 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 27, 2012, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 62 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.