- Date
- August 22, 2015, 10:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Homer, AK
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9588BCessna 180
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 15, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20150822024029A
- Case key
- 91849
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 loss of directional control during landing, resulting 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 to the south on a beach in his tailwheel-equipped Cessna 180 airplane. The pilot stated the wind was gusting about 35 knots across the beach. At the end of the landing rollout, the right tire impacted a sand drift and the pilot was unable to maintain directional control. The airplane entered a ground loop, sustaining substantial damage to the left wing and elevator. The pilot stated there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was landing to the south on a beach in his tailwheel-equipped Cessna 180 airplane. The pilot stated the wind was gusting about 35 knots across the beach. At the end of the landing rollout, the right tire impacted a sand drift and the pilot was unable to maintain directional control. The airplane entered a ground loop, sustaining substantial damage to the left wing and elevator. The pilot stated there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9588B
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32885
- Built
- 1957
- Airframe hours
- 10,026
- Engine
- Cont Motor O-520 SERIES, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Smith Timothy E, doing business as Smith Air Charters
- Registered owner
- Smith Timothy E
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- HOM · Homer, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- HOM · Homer
- 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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 5,600 total · 5,600 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.71 inHg
- Turbulence
- Moderate
- Observed at
- PAHO, 41 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 17, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 600 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 N9588B · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.