- Date
- August 8, 1993, 12:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Near Skwentna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N97978Stinson 108-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 2, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19930808028379A
- Case key
- 2399
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 inadequate preflight planning and preparation. A factor in the accident was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the particular aircraft's performance.
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 pilot, who had 5 hours experience in make/model, misjudged the length of takeoff run needed by his newly-acquired float plane. Aborting the takeoff attempt, the pilot elected to ditch in a swamp at the end of the lake.
Factual narrative
On August 8, 1993, at approximately 1245 Alaska daylight time, a float-equipped Stinson 108-2, with a 190 horsepower conversion, N97978, crashed on takeoff from an unnamed lake, approximately 50 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska. The accident location is near Skwentna. The airline transport rated pilot, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, personal, was departing the 2000 foot lake, with one passenger. Visual conditions existed and no flight plan was filed. Neither occupant were injured, however the airplane was substantially damaged.
The pilot told the NTSB and the FAA that he had about 5 hours experience in the airplane since purchase and about 100 hours on floats in a Champion airplane. He said the airplane seemed to be performing normally, but that he misjudged the length of takeoff run required and that "it just wouldn't fly, and I put it in the swamp at the end of the lake". The pilot described the damage to include a bent spar in the right wing, damaged floats, and leading edge damage on the left wing. A small fire in the engine compartment was reportedly extinguished by the pilot after the crash.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N97978
- Reported as
- Stinson 108-2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 108-975
- Airframe hours
- 2,400
- Engine
- Lycoming O-435-1, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Wooliver, Geo & Nickerson, C.
- Registered owner
- Geo Wooliver & C. Nickerson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 7, 1992 · 15 hours before
- Destination
- LHD · Anchorage, 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,200 total · 5 in this make and model · 2,300 as pilot in command · 207 in the last 90 days · 62 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F
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 N97978 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.