- Date
- March 4, 1996, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Skwentna, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5246ECessna 185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19960304003549A
- Case key
- 2804
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 selection of an unsuitable area for landing. A factor associated with the accident was the rough and uneven terrain.
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 ski-equipped airplane on a rough and uneven frozen lake, and the left main landing gear collapsed. Inspection showed that the gear failure was consistent with overload forces.
Factual narrative
On March 4, 1996, about 1700 Alaska standard time, a ski equipped Cessna 185F airplane, N5246E, sustained substantial damage while landing on a frozen lake located about 52 miles west of Skwentna, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot and two passengers aboard were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 135 on-demand air taxi flight was operated by Talkeetna Air Taxi in visual meteorological conditions. The flight last departed Skwentna, Alaska, at 1630.
The pilot reported he landed on Puntilla Lake with two passengers. During the landing roll, the airplane's left main landing gear collapsed. The pilot wrote in his report to the NTSB that the landing didn't seem hard enough to break the landing gear.
An A&P mechanic with Inspection Authorization (IA), who acts as the Director of Maintenance for Talkeetna Air Taxi, and went to the accident site to perform temporary repairs, reported that the pilot was landing on fairly rough and uneven snow and ice, and that the damage to the left main landing gear is consistent with overload.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5246E
- Reported as
- Cessna 185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503943
- Airframe hours
- 5,438
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Talkeetna Air Taxi
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 30, 1995 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- SKW · 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
- 29
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,010 total · 2,000 in this make and model · 3,000 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 25 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 100 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 19 °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 N5246E · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.