ANC96LA132

The pilot, holder of a student pilot certificate, and the sole passenger, landed on a section of remote ocean beach. During the landing roll, the nose wheel sank in soft sand. The airplane received damage to the nose gear, propeller, engine firewall, and right wing.

On August 17, 1996, about 1200 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-28-140, N6119W, crashed during landing on a remote beach, about 40 miles south of Dillingham, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight when the accident occurred. The airplane, registered to Joseph Clark, Clarks Point, Alaska, and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The pilot, holder of a student pilot certificate, and the sole passenger, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) reported that the airplane accident was reported by the pilot of a passing airplane. The FAA received information that the accident airplane pilot landed on a soft beach area near Cape Constantine in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge. During the landing roll, the nose wheel sank in soft sand. The airplane received damage to the nose gear, propeller, engine firewall, and right wing. The pilot submitted a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) pilot/operator form 6120.1/2. He did not provide any information concerning the airplane history or his flight time.