- Date
- July 14, 1993, 14:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Resurrect'N Bay, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3541TTaylorcraft TC19
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 20, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19930714023479A
- Case key
- 2381
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot-in-command's failure to maintain directional control upon landing.
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
Pilot elected to make precautionary landing on beach to determine source of cockpit fumes. Upon landing on beach, adequate directional control was not maintained and the aircraft dragged a wing in the water and nosed over.
Factual narrative
On July 14, 1993, at approximately 1415 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Taylorcraft TC-19 airplane, N3541T, crashed while attempting a precautionary landing on the beach in Resurrection Bay 15 miles south of Seward, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger had departed Merrill Field in Anchorage, Alaska at approximately 1900. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91, in visual meteorological conditions. The occupants were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. No flight plan was filed and no weather briefing was obtained.
The pilot, a recent graduate from the US Air Force Academy, said that he "smelled fumes in the cockpit and made a precautionary landing on the beach." He said that during roll out, the left wheel caught in the water and "it dragged me left and turned me over." Both the pilot and the passenger were on a cross-country flight from Colorado Springs, with stops in Northway and Anchorage.
Structural damage was limited to the wings and landing gear assembly.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3541T
- Reported as
- Taylorcraft TC19
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 001
- Airframe hours
- 480
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Wolcott, Andrew K.
- Registered owner
- Wolcott, Kent K.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 11, 1993 · 65 hours before
- Departed
- MRI · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- HOM · Homer, 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
- 22
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 654 total · 286 in this make and model · 530 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.