ANC94LA134

The pilot, accompanied by a passenger, was landing a tundra tire equipped airplane on a remote gravel bar adjacent to a river. During the landing roll, the airplane began to turn to the right. The pilot was unable to control the aircraft and it ground looped to the right. The left wing and horizontal stabilizer were damaged when they struck the ground. The pilot indicated that after the accident, he noticed a tail wind of about 4 to 5 knots from the right rear quarter of the airplane.

On September 9, 1994, at approximately 1945 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire wheel equipped Piper PA18-150 airplane, N57698, owned and operated by the pilot-in-command, collided with terrain during a landing attempt at a remote site near the confluence of the Tyone River and Susitna River about 30 miles west of Gulkana, Alaska. The private certificated pilot and his one male passenger, the sole occupants, were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The pleasure flight, conducted under 14 CFR Part 91, last departed Lake Louise at about 1800 and the intended destination was the accident site. The pilot reported that visual meteorological conditions prevailed and that he had left an itinerary of the flight with his wife.

During a telephone interview on September 13, 1994, the pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge that the landing was conducted in a 4 to 5 knot right quartering tail wind. During the landing rollout, he lost directional control of the airplane and the plane ground looped to the right.