- Date
- August 4, 2023, 10:01 local (18:01 UTC)
- Place
- Iliamna, AK · Tundra
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9855XCessna 185
- 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
- Case key
- 192804
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 passenger’s inadvertent application of brakes during landing that resulted in a nose over.
Findings · 1
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 reported that before landing at a remote tundra airstrip, he put his heels on the floor with his toes off the brake portion of the rudder pedals. Shortly after touching down, the front seat passenger inadvertently applied pressure to the brake pedals, and the airplane suddenly and violently nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, vertical stabilizer, rudder and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation, nor did he brief his passenger on the risk of interfering with the brake pedals.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9855X
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1850055
- Built
- 1961
- Airframe hours
- 12,158.8
- Engine
- Cont Motor IO 520 SERIES, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 11, 2023 · 75.2 hours before
- Departed
- PAKN · King Salmon, AK
- Destination
- PFKK · Kokhanok, AK
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, Handheld GPS, ADS-B, 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
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 6, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,064 total · 460 in this make and model · 981 as pilot in command · 75 in the last 90 days · 34 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 12 knots, gusting 19
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,800 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- PAKN, 49 nm away
- METAR
- PAKN 041754Z 15012G19KT 10SM OVC048 15/08 A3012 RMK AO2 SLP201 T01500083 10150 20128 55001
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 15, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.0 MB in all.
Other investigations on N9855X · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.