- Date
- September 10, 2021, 16:15 local (Sep 11, 2021, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Talkeetna, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N7MYPiper PA-18-150
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Nose over/nose down
- 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
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20210910022399A
- Case key
- 103883
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 selection of unsuitable terrain for landing, which resulted in a loss of directional control and nose over.
Findings · 6
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 of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that prior to landing at an off-airport, rocky and tundra covered, uphill slope landing site, he made several passes over the area looking for hazards and “dragged” the wheels to test the landing surface. During the landing, the airplane touched down slightly past the “ideal spot”, he applied the brakes, but the airplane did not slow as much has he had expected. As the airplane reached the top of the knoll and started down the other side it began to weathervane to the right. He applied the brakes to avoid rocks and the airplane encountered a large hole that he had “not seen from the air.” Subsequently, the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted sustaining substantial damage to the empennage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that the accident may have been avoided if he had selected a more suitable landing site.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7MY
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7242
- Built
- 1959
- Airframe hours
- 5,779.5
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Paris Enterprises LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 1, 2021
- Departed
- TKA · Talkeetna, AK
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- None
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
- 31
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 17, 2021
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 5,500 total · 330 in this make and model · 180 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.58 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK, 18 nm away
- METAR
- PATK 102353Z 22003KT 10SM OVC070 12/09 A2958
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 18, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.1 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.