- Date
- August 12, 1982, 18:20 local (Aug 13, 1982, 02:20 UTC)
- Place
- Polly Creek, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N2701MPiper PA-12
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 12, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19820812041579A
- Case key
- 72276
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot landed on the beach near the mouth of Polly Creek to go fishing. After fishing for several hours. He noticed fuel leaking from the filler cap on the left main tank. This occurred when fuel cross-flowed from the right auxiliary tank. The pilot turned off the left main and right auxiliary fuel tanks to stop the cross feed. After several more hours, the tide began coming in and the pilot hurried his preflight to get off the beach during takeoff, the engine coughed at lift-off, promoting the pilot to abort. The aircraft bounced 2 or 3 times on the beach which was uneven, then the left main gear entered the surf. Subsequently, the plane veered and nosed over in deeper water. The pilot stated that he had planned to takeoff using the full left tank. After the accident, he found the right fuel selector was on, but the left main tank was only partially on. He believed this caused the engine to sputter from fuel starvation. Before recovery, the plane was further damaged by the surf.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2701M
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-1205
- Airframe hours
- 1,958
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-C, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Gary S. Liepitz
- Registered owner
- Gary S. Liepitz
- Departed
- Polly Creek, AK
- Destination
- LHD · Anchorage
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- (Unimproved Beach)
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Invalid Medical for flight
- Flight hours
- 169 total · 66 in this make and model · 127 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Temperature
- 149 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.