- Date
- September 4, 2024, 10:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Denali, AK · Remote airstrip
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N424RDPiper PA-18A 150
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Windshear or thunderstorm
- 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
- 195118
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
Failure to maintain clearance from terrain due to the airplane’s encounter with windshear during takeoff.
Findings · 3
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 he was attempting to depart from a remote 600ft-long airstrip. The pilot said just after the airplane lifted off the ground, it encountered windshear and did not gain sufficient altitude to clear rising terrain at the end of the airstrip. The airplane’s tailwheel impacted terrain, and the airplane veered to the left. Subsequently, the airplane impacted terrain again and came to rest upright. The right wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N424RD
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18A 150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-5169
- Built
- 1956
- Airframe hours
- 4,817.1
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-C2A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 4, 2024
- Destination
- PAIN · Denali, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- PVT · Yanert strip
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 41
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 30, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 337 total · 269 in this make and model · 262 as pilot in command · 66 in the last 90 days · 18 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.88 inHg
- Observed at
- PAIN, 35 nm away
- METAR
- PAIN 041756Z AUTO VRB05KT 10SM OVC090 11/02 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP131 T01060022 10106 20039 58019
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 5, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 939 KB in all.