- Date
- November 23, 2013, 14:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Nenana, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8310QCessna A185F
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 4, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20131123024609A
- Case key
- 88507
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 failure to maintain directional control of the airplane, which resulted in a collision with terrain.
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 wheel/ski equipped airplane on a frozen, wind-blown, ice and snow-covered lake. He had established a landing area earlier in the day, by laying down ski tracks with a friends ski equipped airplane. Upon touchdown, the airplane did not slow as expected, and it began to veer off the proposed landing area. While attempting to correct for the veer, the right ski struck a hole hidden underneath the snow and ice, and the right main landing gear leg separated from the airplane. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and aileron. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was landing a wheel/ski equipped airplane on a frozen, wind-blown, ice and snow-covered lake. He had established a landing area earlier in the day, by laying down ski tracks with a friends ski equipped airplane. Upon touchdown, the airplane did not slow as expected, and it began to veer off the proposed landing area. While attempting to correct for the veer, the right ski struck a hole hidden underneath the snow and ice, and the right main landing gear leg separated from the airplane. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and aileron. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8310Q
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503650
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 3,914
- Engine
- Continental Motors IO 520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Maher Michael P Trustee
- Registered owner
- Maher Michael P Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 28, 2012
- Departed
- PAFA · Fairbanks, AK
- Destination
- Nenana, AK
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 24, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 22,985 total · 2,100 in this make and model · 12,337 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 75 statute miles
- Temperature
- 5 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.73 inHg
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 23, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 MB 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 N8310Q · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.