- Date
- December 27, 1995, 12:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Stevens Village, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N990LBCessna 337G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report April 18, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19951227042639A
- Case key
- 2796
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 proper runway alignment during the approach and landing roll. A factor associated with the accident is the reduced visibility created by the falling snow.
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 on a snow covered runway in falling snow. He said the airplane touched down on the extreme left edge of the runway, and soon went off the left edge and into the adjacent snow. The airplane was pulled to the left, and the pilot was unable to return the airplane to the runway. The airplane went partially into a ditch, and sheared off the nose gear and damaged the left wing.
Factual narrative
On December 27, 1995, about 1200 Alaska standard time, a wheel equipped Cessna 337G airplane, N990LB, sustained substantial damage while landing at Stevens Village Airstrip, Stevens Village, Alaska. The airplane is owned and operated by the Lutheran Association of Missionaries. The commercial certificated pilot and the one passenger aboard were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions existed in the vicinity of the accident site, and a VFR flight was filed. The business flight departed Fairbanks, Alaska, about 1100.
The pilot reported to an NTSB investigator on December 28 that he is a Lutheran Minister and was on a business flight to Stevens Village. He said the sky was obscured, and visibility was approximately one and one-half mile in falling snow. He said that he had some ice on the airplane's wings and windshield, and while landing at Stevens Village, he touched down on the extreme left edge of runway 25. The airplane's left main landing gear subsequently went off the left edge of the runway, and encountered deeper snow, which pulled the airplane further to the left. The pilot was unable to return the airplane to the runway, and the airplane went into a ditch, striking the left wing on the ground. The nose gear was also sheared off, and the belly cargo pod was torn from the fuselage.
The pilot said there were no preimpact mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N990LB
- Reported as
- Cessna 337G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 33701672
- Airframe hours
- 2,776
- Engine
- Continental IO-360-G, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Lutheran Missionaries
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 18, 1995 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- FAI · Fairbanks, AK
- Destination
- SVS
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- SVS · Stevens Village, runway 25, 2,000 × 60 ft, gravel
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 53
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,250 total · 1,100 in this make and model · 3,100 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 1.5 statute miles
- Temperature
- -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.