- Date
- July 5, 1995, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Palmer, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3774ZPiper PA-18-160
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 8, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19950705016659A
- Case key
- 2682
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, during an off-airport landing on rough/uneven terrain, which resulted in an inadvertent ground swerve. The terrain condition was a related factor.
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 he was landing at an off-airport site adjacent to a creek. He said the airplane went off the right side of the landing site and entered rough terrain. The tailwheel assembly separated from the airframe, and the empennage was damaged.
Factual narrative
On July 5, 1995, about 1430 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-18-160 airplane, N3774Z, received substantial damage while landing at Friday Creek, an off-airport site located approximately 15 miles east of Palmer, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot and the one passenger aboard reported no injuries. The 14 CFR Part 91 pleasure flight departed Anderson Lake about 1400 in visual meteorological conditions for the flight to Friday Creek.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on July 6, the pilot reported he was landing on a small, unimproved strip of land near Friday Creek. During the landing roll, the airplane went off the right side of the landing site. The pilot said he corrected to the left, but the tail wheel caught in the rough terrain, and was pulled from the empennage, causing substantial damage to the airframe.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3774Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-160
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 30875
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2B, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gary S. Munoz
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Anderson Lake, 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
- 43
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 537 total · 467 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 90 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °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 N3774Z · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.