- Date
- September 20, 1993, 21:30 local (Sep 21, 1993, 05:30 UTC)
- Place
- Pumice Creek, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4563BCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19930920039289A
- Case key
- 2432
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's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during the landing roll. Factors were the pilot misjudged the wind information, and the unfavorable wind.
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 reported that the winds were too strong and unstable for a safe downwind turn, so he reduced the engine power and landed the airplane. During the landing roll the pilot lost directional control and the airplane ground looped. The pilot said he knew before the attempted landing that the winds were very unstable, and that he had misjudged the gusty crosswind.
Factual narrative
On September 20, 1993, at 2130 Alaska daylight time, the pilot of a wheel equipped Cessna 180 airplane, N4563B, lost control and ground looped the airplane during an off airport landing at Pumice Creek, located approximately 100 miles southeast of King Salmon, Alaska. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The personal local flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed from another nearby remote site about 30 minutes earlier. Visual meteorological conditions existed, and a company flight plan was filed.
Shortly after the accident during a telephone conversation, the pilot stated the following, in part: "I was trying to make an off airport landing in a mountain valley know as "100 mile an hour valley." I misjudged the gusy crosswind during my landing, which I made into the prevailing wind. After touchdown I decided to abort the landing because of the rough unstable air. After I got airborne again, I found the air was too unstable for a downwind turn so I cut the engine power and set back down on the strip. While trying to stop the airplane, the gusty crosswind caused the airplane to ground loop."
The pilot described substantial damage done to the airplane during the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4563B
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31462
- Airframe hours
- 4,835
- Engine
- Continental O-470-7, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Larose, Gary R., doing business as Larose Guide Service
- Registered owner
- Larose, Gary R.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 20, 1993 · 189 hours before
- Flight plan
- Company 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
- 45
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,200 total · 1,950 in this make and model · 3,200 as pilot in command · 200 in the last 90 days · 150 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 10 knots, gusting 35
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 50 °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 N4563B · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.