- Date
- August 22, 2023, 12:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Skwentna, AK · gravel bar
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N4111ZPiper PA-18
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Miscellaneous/other
- 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/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20230822014509A
- Case key
- 192953
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 decision to taxi the airplane through tall grass without visual reference to the surface which obscured uneven 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 reported he landed on an unimproved strip, and then elected to reposition the airplane through an area of tall grass. During taxi, the main landing gear wheels hit a dip in the uneven terrain, and the airplane nosed over, sustaining substantial damage to the rudder and right wing. The pilot reported that there were no pre-accident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4111Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-8153
- Built
- 1964
- Airframe hours
- 5,105
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 A2B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 4, 2023 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- PALH · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device
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
- 38
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- May 22, 2023
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 7,976 total · 448 in this make and model · 4,796 as pilot in command · 107 in the last 90 days · 62 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- PATK, 44 nm away
- METAR
- PATK 221953Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 16/11 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP181 T01560106
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 10.9 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 N4111Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.