- Date
- June 30, 2025, 16:30 local (Jul 1, 2025, 00:30 UTC)
- Place
- Chinitna Bay, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3609ZPiper PA-22-150
- Defining event
- Enroute: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250630008529A
- Case key
- 200440
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On June 30, 2025, about 1630 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA 22-150 airplane, N3609Z, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Chinitna Bay, Alaska. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that, while en route he heard two or three loud “thuds” followed by reduced rudder control. He said that the airplane began to yaw back and forth and increased when he added engine power. The pilot made the decision to perform a precautionary landing on a remote beach. During the landing the right wheel touched down first, and the airplane veered to the right. The pilot said that he had no rudder control and attempted to correct with left aileron to no avail, subsequently the airplane nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, lift struts and rudder. Examination of the airframe is pending the recovery of the wreckage.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3609Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-22-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 22-7497
- Built
- 1960
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 26, 2025 · 50 hours before
- Departed
- PSXQ · Soldonta, AK
- Destination
- PSXQ · Soldonta, AK
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, ADS-B
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,500 ft broken
- Temperature
- 57 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.99 inHg
- Observed at
- PAIL, 57 nm away
- METAR
- PAIL 010053Z 13004KT 10SM BKN085 14/10 A2999 RMK NOSPECI
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.