- Date
- March 19, 2021, 16:15 local (Mar 20, 2021, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Port Alsworth, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1820LBeech A36
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20210319002169A
- Case key
- 102805
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 NTSB’s determination of the probable cause, and any contributing factors.
The pilot's misidentification of the airport’s active runway, which resulted in an off runway landing and a collision with a snow berm. Contributing to the accident was the runway’s lack of identifying markings.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings.
Analysis
According to the pilot, during the approach to land on a plowed- snow-covered runway, he selected a touchdown point near, what he had identified as, the runway threshold. On short final a pilot-rated passenger seated in the right front seat recommended adding power. The pilot assumed this was to “cushion” the landing not realizing he was landing short of the runway’s plowed surface. Subsequently, the airplane touchdown in an area of unplowed snow, impacted a snow berm, and the nosewheel collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operations. In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been prevented if there were clear runway threshold markings to define the runway’s plowed surface. According to the operator, cones are normally used to identify the runway threshold; however, they had been removed due to ongoing snow removal operations on the day of the accident.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1820L
- Reported as
- Beech A36
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- E-843
- Built
- 1976
- Airframe hours
- 26,135.6
- Engine
- Cont Motor IO-550B, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Lake Clark Air
- Registered owner
- Alsworth Glen R
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 23, 2020
- Departed
- MRI · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- TPO · Port Alsworth, runway 06L, 3,000 × 100 ft, snow
- 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
- 35
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 7, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,325 total · 4 in this make and model · 1,225 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 70° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 28 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.54 inHg
- Observed at
- PALJ
- METAR
- PALJ 192255Z 07006KT 40SM FEW100 M02/M09 A2954 RMK EST PASS OPEN NOSPECI
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 20, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.0 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 N1820L · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.