- Date
- August 16, 1982, 20:00 local (Aug 17, 1982, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Eagle River, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2409PPiper PA-38-112
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 16, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19820816043219A
- Case key
- 70537
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
During a local flight, the pilot elected to fly into the mouth of peter's creek valley to look at a friend's cabin. He stated that after he flew over the cabin at about 1500 ft MSL, he "initiated power and a 180 deg turn." He stated that on application of full power, the engine did not respond in any way. Anticipating a carburetor ice problem, he applied carburetor heat. He stated there was no change in power after this step, so he elected to exchange altitude for airspeed to again initiate a 180 deg turn out of the valley. Also, he stated power was consistently decreasing along with a safe area to make a turn. Subsequently, he elected to land in the best area available which was a fairly flat knoll on the side of the valley. During touchdown, the plane impacted in a nose high attitude at an elevation of about 2000 ft. no preimpact malfunction or failure was identified. The temp & dew point were 45 & 35 deg. Icing probability charts indicated serious carb icing could occur at or below cruise power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2409P
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38-112
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-79A0980
- Airframe hours
- 1,487
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Piper Sales Alaska
- Registered owner
- Piper Sales Alaska
- Departed
- MRI · Merrill Field, AK
- Destination
- MRI · Merrill Field, AK
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
- 27
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,204 total · 5 in this make and model · 1,018 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Temperature
- 113 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.