- Date
- September 2, 1996, 17:00 local (Sep 3, 1996, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Skwentna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4726TMaule M-4
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 23, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19960902025919A
- Case key
- 2891
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 landing site. 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 reported he was landing his airplane at a remote gravel bar. He said he touched down further down the gravel bar then he intended, and then realized there was a depression just ahead. He attempted to take off, but his hand was knocked off the throttle by the rough terrain. The airplane entered the depression, the main landing gear dug in, and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On September 2, 1996, about 1700 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Maule M-4 airplane, N4726T, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over while landing on a gravel bar located approximately 50 miles west of Skwentna, Alaska. The private pilot and sole passenger aboard were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions. The flight last departed Palmer, Alaska, about 1520, and the destination was the gravel bar.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 5, the pilot reported that after touchdown on the gravel bar, he realized that he had touched down farther down the gravel bar than he wanted to. He said he tried to abort the landing, but as he reached for the throttle to increase engine power, the airplane struck something on the gravel bar. The pilot said his hand was knocked away from the throttle by the impact. The pilot was unable to maintain directional control, and the airplane entered a depression in the gravel bar. The left main landing gear wheel subsequently dug into the ground, and the airplane nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4726T
- Reported as
- Maule M-4
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1001
- Airframe hours
- 2,003
- Engine
- Continental IO-360-A, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Mark A. Petersen
- Registered owner
- Arthur Petersen
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- PAQ · Palmer, 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
- 36
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 334 total · 139 in this make and model · 310 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 99 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 N4726T · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.