- Date
- July 21, 1997, 18:30 local (Jul 22, 1997, 02:30 UTC)
- Place
- Naknek, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N9481FCessna 208
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 10, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19970721023309A
- Case key
- 3032
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 pilots decision to continue the landing into adverse weather conditions and failure to maintain runway alignmet. A factor was the rain shower which resulted in reduced forward visibility.
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 airplane was on short final to land when it encountered heavy rain, which reduced forward visibility. The pilot continued the landing, and during the landing roll, the airplane drifted right, and the right wing contacted brush and trees. The airplane departed the right side of the 1,700-foot-long x 50-foot-wide runway.
Factual narrative
On July 21, 1997, at 1830 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna 208 airplane, N9481F, sustained substantial damage when it departed the runway at the Naknek-Tibbetts Airport, Naknek, Alaska, and impacted trees. The airline transport certificated pilot and two passengers were not injured. The airplane was operated by Peninsula Airways, Inc., of Anchorage, Alaska, as scheduled commuter flight number 354 from King Salmon, Alaska to Naknek. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 135, a company VFR flight plan was filed, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
The airplane departed the Naknek Airport at 1825, and was en route to the Tibbetts Airport, which is separated from the Naknek Airport by a drainage ditch. The flight immediately entered the pattern to land at the Tibbetts Airport. The pilot reported heavy rain began while maneuvering to land, and that he lost forward visibility while on short final. After landing, the airplane drifted off the right side of the 1,700 foot long by 50 foot wide runway, and contacted trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9481F
- Reported as
- Cessna 208
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20800070
- Airframe hours
- 8,670
- Engine
- P&W PT-6A-114, 600 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Peninsula Airways Inc., doing business as Penair
- Registered owner
- Avion Capital Corporation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 6, 1997 · 61 hours before
- Departed
- 5NK · AK
- Destination
- 4AK9 · Naknek/Tibbetts, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 4AK9 · Naknek-Tibbetts, runway 34, 1,700 × 50 ft, gravel
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
- 51
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 18,546 total · 204 in this make and model · 291 in the last 90 days · 110 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AKN, 12 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.