- Date
- December 21, 1988, 13:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Porcupine Lodge, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N70087Cessna 185
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 6, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19881221055429A
- Case key
- 5154
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 aircraft was taxiing for takeoff on the frozen Porcupine river in rural Alaska when the right main landing gear broke through the river ice, allowing the right wing to strike the ice. The pilot stated that he had landed on the river near the Porcupine Lodge at a site that had been designated by the operator of the Lodge as a landing site. He experienced no problems during the landing, and assumed that the ice was thick enough to support the weight of his airplane. During the taxi downstream for takeoff, the right main landing gear tire and ski broke through the ice into approximately four feet of water.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N70087
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18501953
- Airframe hours
- 4,342
- Engine
- Continental IO-520D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Yukon Air Service
- Registered owner
- Dowding, Roger D
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 5, 1988 · 10 hours before
- Destination
- Fort Yukon, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- NONE · Porcupine River
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,000 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 85 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 35 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft overcast
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N70087 · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.