- Date
- August 29, 1994, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Skwentna, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4478APiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19940829024019A
- Case key
- 2548
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 selecting a gravel bar for a normal landing. A factor was the soft spot in the gravel bar.
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 on a gravel bar. During the landing roll he was applying brake pressure. The wheels hit a soft spot in the gravel and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On August 29, 1994, at 1500 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N4478A, registered to and operated by Henry J. Orth of Anchorage, Alaska, nosed over during the landing roll on a gravel bar located at the confluence of the Hartman River and South Fork of the Kuskokwim River. The personal flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed a field site for a local hunting flight. No flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured and the airplane received substantial damage.
According to the pilot he landed on a gravel bar and during the landing roll, while applying brake pressure, the airplane's wheels hit a soft spot and the airplane nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4478A
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-4835
- Airframe hours
- 5,445
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Orth, Henry J.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 5, 1993 · 49 hours before
- Departed
- Wisilla, 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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 2,359 total · 1,735 in this make and model · 2,359 as pilot in command · 21 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 99 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- 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 N4478A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.