- Date
- July 23, 1997, 22:00 local (Jul 24, 1997, 06:00 UTC)
- Place
- Umiat, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N2707XCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 10, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19970723023549A
- Case key
- 3034
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 collapse of the right main landing gear while taxiing to parking.
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 an uneventful landing had been completed on a 3,000 foot long gravel bar. While taxiing to a parking area, the right main landing gear collapsed, allowing the right wing to strike the ground.
Factual narrative
On July 23, 1997, at 2200 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna 180 airplane, N2707X, sustained substantial damage while taxiing on a gravel bar in the Colville River, about 68 miles southwest of Umiat, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot and the one passenger aboard were uninjured. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The flight departed Umiat, Alaska, at 2100 on July 23, 1997, and the pilot stated he had filed a flight plan with an acquaintance in Umiat. The pilot said he was not due to return to Umiat for four days.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge, the pilot reported he had completed the landing roll, and was taxiing the airplane to a parking area when the right main landing gear collapsed. He said he was unable to establish radio communications with any aircraft, and activated his emergency locator transmitter (ELT). This signal was received by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in Fairbanks, Alaska, at 0009 on July 24, 1997. A helicopter was dispatched from Barrow, Alaska, and the pilot and passenger were recovered at 0335 on July 24, 1997.
The pilot did not complete an NTSB Pilot/Operator Report as requested.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2707X
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 180-51507
- Engine
- Continental O-470-R, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gregory S. Wiren
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- UMT · AK
- Destination
- UMT · AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 50 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
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 N2707X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.