- Date
- June 8, 1994, 14:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Kassan Bay, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4471RCessna 185
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19940608014149A
- Case key
- 2511
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 inadequate compensation for the wind. Factors were the rough water and the gusty wind condition.
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 landed the airplane parallel to the swells and as it slowed down, it weathervaned into the wind. The airplane's nose pitched up and according to the pilot, a gust of wind hit the airplane. The left wing, the downwind wing, struck the water. The swells were estimated to be 1 to 2 feet and the wind was from the southeast at 10 knots with gusts to 20 knots.
Factual narrative
On June 8, 1994, at 1415 Alaska daylight time, a float equipped Cessna 185 airplane, N4471R, registered to and operated by Taquan Air of Ketchikan, Alaska, dragged a wing in the water during landing at Kassan Bay located 26 nautical miles Northwest of Ketchikan. The air taxi flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 135, departed Ketchikan and the destination was Kassan Bay. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company flight plan was in effect. The commercially certificated pilot and the passenger were not injured and the airplane was substantially damaged.
According to the pilot, he was landing the airplane in a crosswind, parallel to the swells. The touchdown was normal and as the pilot reduced the airplane's speed, he began to lose rudder authority. The airplane "weathervaned as it "came off step." As the nose of the airplane pitched up, a normal occurrence, the pilot stated a gust of wind hit the airplane. The downwind wing hit the water. The pilot estimated the winds to be from the southeast at 10 to 15 knots with occasional higher gusts. He estimated the swells to be 1 to 2 feet high.
According to a witness standing on the shore, the wind began to blow hard only a half hour before the airplane arrived and continued to gust while the airplane was making its landing attempt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4471R
- Reported as
- Cessna 185
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18502964
- Airframe hours
- 12,569
- Engine
- Continental IO-520D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Taquan Air
- Registered owner
- Murray, Carol
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 25, 1994 · 47 hours before
- Departed
- KTN · Ketchikan, AK
- 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
- 34
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,500 total · 470 in this make and model · 2,300 as pilot in command · 136 in the last 90 days · 85 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 135° at 10 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Temperature
- 55 °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 N4471R · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.