- Date
- July 31, 2016, 09:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sleetmute, AK
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N206JCCessna U206G
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20160731012719A
- Case key
- 93786
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 adequate airspeed during the initial climb after taking off from a wet runway and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
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 stated that he was attempting a takeoff from an unimproved, wet airstrip with four passengers on board when the tricycle-geared airplane began to hydroplane, followed by a ground loop, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane's left wing and tail. A passenger stated that, after taxiing to the end of the runway and turning around, the pilot began the takeoff roll. After becoming airborne, the airplane immediately turned right, then left, then impacted the trees on the left side of the runway. Following the initial impact, the airplane began to travel backward through the trees. Photographs of the airplane taken immediately following the accident by the passenger show the flaps in the retracted position, the right main landing gear box protruding through the floorboard of the airplane, and substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage, just aft of the rear window.
Factual narrative
The pilot stated that he was attempting a takeoff from an unimproved, wet airstrip with four passengers on board, when the tricycle-geared airplane began to hydroplane, leading to a ground loop that resulted in substantial damage to the left wing and tail of the airplane. A passenger from the flight stated that after taxiing to the end of the runway and turning around, the pilot began the takeoff roll. After becoming airborne, the airplane immediately turned right, then left, then impacted the trees on the left side of the runway. Following the initial impact, the airplane began to travel backwards through the trees. Photographs of the airplane taken immediately following the accident by the passenger show the flaps in the retracted position, the right main landing gear box protruding through the floorboard of the airplane and substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage, just aft of the rear window.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N206JC
- Reported as
- Cessna U206G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U20605765
- Built
- 1980
- Engine
- Continental O-550 SERIES, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Unknown · June 1, 2016
- Departed
- SLQ · Sleetmute, AK
- Destination
- SLQ · Sleetmute, AK
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- SLQ · Sleetmute
- 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
- 65
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 20,000 total · 3,500 in this make and model · 20,000 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 125 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,300 ft broken
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- SLQ, 3 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 24, 2017, 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.