ANC97LA079

The pilot reported a loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing in a gravel pit. He said he did not know why the engine quit, but said one of the fuel tanks still had fuel. Prior to landing in the gravel pit, the pilot said he made an emergency approach to an airstrip, and was just about to land on the runway, when the engine started again. He said he should have landed anyway, but elected to go around and fly to his own airstrip. Soon after he left the airstrip, the engine quit, and he landed in the gravel pit. A state trooper who interviewed the pilot reported the pilot told him he had just changed two cylinders on the airplane's engine, and was on a test flight. The noncertificated pilot is not an aviation mechanic, and in his report he did not indicate he had any flight experience, or that the airplane had received any of the required inspections. He did relate that he routinely flies the airplane from his private, rural airstrip.

On May 28, 1997, about 2100 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper J-5 airplane, N31164, sustained substantial damage following a loss of engine power and subsequent forced landing in a gravel pit near Wasilla, Alaska. The non certificated pilot was not injured. The local, 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was filed.

The pilot was interviewed on the telephone by the NTSB investigator-in-charge on May 29. The pilot related that he is not a certificated pilot, and that he typically operates the accident airplane from his rural private airstrip, located near Wasilla. He said he departed his airstrip about 2000, and was flying locally when the engine surged, and lost power. He said he tried carburetor heat, but that did not restore power. He made a successful approach to the Higher Road Airstrip, and was approximately 5 feet above the runway's surface, when the engine regained power. The pilot said he should have landed anyway, but elected to climb and return to his own airstrip. Shortly after passing over the end of the runway, the engine again lost all power, and the pilot made a hard, forced landing in a nearby gravel pit.

The pilot said he was unsure what caused the loss of engine power, but believes it may have been fuel starvation. He said the left fuel tank had fuel, but thinks the right may have been empty.

An Alaska State Trooper responded to the accident site and located the pilot at the nearby Walmart store in Wasilla. According to the trooper's report, the pilot said he had just put two new cylinders on the airplane's engine, and he needed to fly the airplane for two hours, but had engine trouble and had to land. The trooper also noted that one witness had observed the airplane flying very erratic and low around his house, and the witness thought that, at least once, the airplane was going to hit the house.

The pilot was not a certificated airman or aviation mechanic. His report to the NTSB indicated no flight time, or that any of the required maintenance inspections had been performed on the airplane.