- Date
- September 8, 2014, 11:23 local (19:23 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N56332Maule M 5-235C
- Defining event
- Taxi: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 5, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20140908023079A
- Case key
- 90078
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 excessive taxi speed, which resulted in a loss of control.
Findings · 4
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 had landed the tailwheel-equipped airplane up-slope, on a vegetation covered unimproved runway. He reported that he had landed at the same location four days prior without incident. While back taxiing on the downhill portion of the runway the airplane began to accelerate. The pilot applied the main wheel brakes in an effort to slow the airplane, but it continued into a soft muddy section, and it subsequently nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, and left wing lift strut. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been avoided if he had taxied at a slower speed, or if he had been more cautious of the changing runway conditions.
Factual narrative
The pilot had landed the tailwheel-equipped airplane up-slope, on a vegetation covered unimproved runway. He reported that he had landed at the same location four days prior without incident. While back taxiing on the downhill portion of the runway the airplane began to accelerate. The pilot applied the main wheel brakes in an effort to slow the airplane, but it continued into a soft muddy section, and it subsequently nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer, rudder, and left wing lift strut. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been avoided if he had taxied at a slower speed, or if he had been more cautious of the changing runway conditions.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N56332
- Reported as
- Maule M 5-235C (235C)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7253C
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 10,335
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-J1A5D, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Smith Paul G
- Registered owner
- Smith Paul G
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 13, 2014
- Departed
- AK43 · Wasilla, AK
- Destination
- Talkeetna, 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
- 58
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 14, 2014
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 2,065 total · 455 in this make and model · 2,042 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK, 45 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 24, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.1 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.