- Date
- September 12, 2023, 14:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Healy, AK · Remote airstrip
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N34VVCessna 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
- FAA report
- 20230912011259A
- Case key
- 193057
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 an unsuitable landing site, resulting in a nose over.
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 of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, during landing rollout at an overgrown remote airstrip, the main landing gear wheels “sunk into soft vegetation.” The airplane subsequently nosed over and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, vertical stabilizer, and wings. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N34VV
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 185-0036
- Built
- 1961
- Airframe hours
- 3,196.6
- Engine
- Cont Motor IO-550, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Fly Denali INC, doing business as Fly Denali
- Registered owner
- Wattum Investments LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 5, 2023
- Departed
- PAHV · Healy, AK
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, ADS-B, Stall warning system, 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
- 28
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 4, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,869 total · 290 in this make and model · 1,720 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 80 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 6,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.62 inHg
- Observed at
- PAIN, 30 nm away
- METAR
- PAIN 122256Z AUTO VRB06KT 10SM FEW047 OVC060 12/01 A2962 RMK AO2 SLP046 T01170011
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.5 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.