ANC96LA156

The pilot reported he was landing his float equipped airplane to the south on a remote lake to pick up some friends who had been moose hunting. This was his third flight of the day to the same lake. Prior to landing, he estimated the surface wind as southerly at 10 knots. During the landing roll, he said the right wing suddenly rose, the toe of the left float dug into the water, and the airplane nosed over. The pilot said his friends on the shore rescued him with their boat, and that they reported a strong wind gust just after the airplane touched down on the lake. The pilot also noted a storm was located to the south of the lake.

On September 9, 1996, about 1700 Alaska daylight time, a float equipped Cessna 182 airplane, N6022B, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over while landing at Anne Lake, located approximately 30 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska. The solo, private certificated pilot was not injured. The local, 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight last departed the Chena Marina Seaplane Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, about 1630.

During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 17, the pilot related that the accident flight was his third flight that day to Anne Lake. He said he was landing to the south, and that the landing was normal until he felt the right wing rise, and the toe of the left float became partially submerged in a floating bed of vegetation. He said the airplane then slowly nosed over. The pilot also said witnesses on the ground recalled seeing and feeling a strong gust of wind while he was landing. The pilot said he is not sure if the gust of wind caused the right wing to rise, or if it was a combination of the wind and the mass of floating vegetation which caused him to lose control of the airplane. The pilot said that prior to landing, the wind was from a southerly direction at 10 knots.

In his written report to the NTSB, the pilot noted wind gusts to 30 knots at Anne Lake. He also mentioned he could see a storm to the south of Anne Lake.

An FAA Inspector who looked at the accident airplane after its return to Fairbanks, discovered compression wrinkles in the top and bottom right wing skin panels, right wing rib damage, a bent right wing lift strut, and probable right wing spar damage.