- Date
- September 1, 2014, 14:45 local (22:45 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2507MPiper PA 12
- Defining event
- Landing: Abnormal runway contact
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 11, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FSDO-3
- FAA report
- 20140901016069A
- Case key
- 90004
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced landing, resulting in a runway excursion and collision with trees.
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 tailwheel-equipped airplane, at an off-airport site, which required a correction for an 8 knot, left quartering crosswind. During touchdown, the airplane bounced, and he attempted to recover, but the airplane drifted to the left. The pilot reported that he applied full engine power to abort the landing, but the airplane subsequently collided with a stand of alder trees at the end of the site, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was landing a tailwheel-equipped airplane, at an off-airport site, which required a correction for an 8 knot, left quartering crosswind. During touchdown, the airplane bounced, and he attempted to recover, but the airplane drifted to the left. The pilot reported that he applied full engine power to abort the landing, but the airplane subsequently collided with a stand of alder trees at the end of the site, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing. The pilot reported there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2507M
- Reported as
- Piper PA 12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-1005
- Built
- 1946
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235 SERIES, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 30, 2014 · 94 hours before
- Departed
- 4AK6 · Palmer, AK
- Destination
- Talkeetna, AK
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 46
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 30, 2014
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,471 total · 1,421 in this make and model · 3,431 as pilot in command · 66 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.89 inHg
- Turbulence
- Light
- Observed at
- PATK, 17 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 933 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 N2507M · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.