ANC93LA111

The pilot landed on a gravel bar to await better weather. The gravel bar was 375 feet long. The plane normally required a takeoff distance of 400 feet. The pilot believed that the takeoff could be made based upon the 5 to 10 mile per hour headwind, having no passengers, and 3/4THS fuel. At the end of the gravel bar the plane's indicated airspeed was about 40 miles per hour. Normal liftoff airspeed was approximately 50 miles per hour. The plane rose several feet then settled into the river and flipped over.

On July 03, 1993, at 1500 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Citabria 7ECA airplane, N9597S, registered to and operated by the pilot in command, crashed during takeoff from a gravel bar on the Tik Chik River, approximately 20 miles north of the Tik Chik Narrows Lodge. The private certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The intended destination for the personal flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, was a remote fishing site on the Yukon River. No flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed.

During a telephone interview, the pilot in command reported the following information to the NTSB investigator in charge: He landed on the gravel bar to wait for improving weather. The gravel bar was approximately 375 feet in length. His airplane normally requires about 400 feet of runway, "but there was a 5 to 10 mile per hour (mph) headwind and I had no passengers and 3/4 gas". Part of the gravel bar became covered with a few inches of water from the rain and rising river which slowed his takeoff roll. By the end of the gravel bar his airspeed was about 40 mph, with about 50 mph required. The plane rose a few feet then settled into the river and flipped over.