- Date
- September 20, 2025, 12:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- McGrath, AK · remote airstrip
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N217WM217whiskeymike SQ12
- Defining event
- Taxi-from runway: Nose over/nose down
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250920015009A
- Case key
- 201707
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 failure to maintain clearance from a hole in the tundra, which resulted in impact with 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 of a tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that during the landing roll at a remote site, he was applying full engine power to taxi uphill. The airplane’s main landing gear wheels went into a low tundra hole and the airplane subsequently nosed over, sustaining substantial damage to the left wing lift strut. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N217WM
- Reported as
- 217whiskeymike SQ12
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- SQ12-0012
- Built
- 2023
- Airframe hours
- 350
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-390, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Backcountry Adventures LLC
- Registered owner
- Backcountry Adventures LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 1, 2025
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- None
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
- 36
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1
- Last flight review
- July 1, 2025
- Seat
- Center
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,200 total · 1,500 in this make and model · 3,200 as pilot in command · 68 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 40 °F
- METAR
- METAR PAMC 201953Z 33003KT 10SM OVC049 10/07 A2926 RMK AO2 SLP912 T01000067 $=
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 22, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 28.3 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.