- Date
- July 31, 1988, 19:30 local (Aug 1, 1988, 03:30 UTC)
- Place
- Valdez, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8580DPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 9, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19880731029629A
- Case key
- 5044
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 private pilot was attempting to land at a remote beach site to join a pilot friend who had landed there earlier in his own airplane. The pilot on the beach had placed a sleeping bag and other items in a hole on the beach to mark it as a landing hazard. The pilot of the accident airplane believed it to be a marker showing the best place to land. He landed directly on the marker, hit the hole, and subsequently nosed-over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8580D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-6238
- Airframe hours
- 3,375
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Robert L. Pierson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 18, 1988 · 150 hours before
- Departed
- VDZ · Valdez, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 2,000 total · 250 in this make and model · 2,000 as pilot in command · 40 in the last 90 days · 10 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
- 63 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.