- Date
- September 29, 1997, 18:00 local (Sep 30, 1997, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- King Salmon, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N4900ACessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 28, 1999
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19970930029389A
- Case key
- 3074
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 distorted/misaligned main landing gear, and an improper maintenance repair of the main landing gear. A factor associated with the accident was 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 airplane departed a rough, rocky, gravel bar. During the subsequent landing roll at the pilot's gravel strip, the plane veered to the right. As the plane decelerated, full left rudder and brake input by the pilot did not maintain directional control. The airplane departed the right side of the strip, the left main landing gear separated, and the airplane nosed over. Inspection revealed that the right main landing gear was canted ten degrees to the right, and had been installed using 'Cherry Max' rivets instead of the required solid rivets.
Factual narrative
On September 29, 1997, at 1800 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped, Cessna 180 airplane, N4900A, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over on a landing strip at the Kejulik River Lodge, fifty-seven miles southeast of King Salmon, Alaska, at position 57-51 degrees north latitude, 155-48 degrees west longitude. The commercial certificated pilot and the one passenger were uninjured. The airplane was in support of a hunting and fishing lodge. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91, as a local flight from the Kejulik River Lodge to check on hunting clients. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a company VFR flight plan was filed.
The pilot reported that during the landing roll at his 900 feet long, by 20 feet wide, private airstrip, the airplane began to drift right. The pilot stated that as airspeed decreased, he applied full left rudder and brake. The right drift became uncontrollable, and the airplane departed the right side of the airstrip. The left main landing gear subsequently failed, and the airplane nosed over.
Postaccident inspection revealed that the right main landing gear was canted ten degrees outboard, and there were popped rivets surrounding the right gear leg. The mechanic who repaired the airplane stated that the rivets which had been used to hold the gear structure in place were "Cherry Max" rivets, instead of the required solid rivets.
The landing strip from which the airplane had last departed was described by the pilot as rough and rocky.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4900A
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 180-32297
- Airframe hours
- 6,395
- Engine
- Continental O-470-K, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Philip L. Shoemaker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 7, 1997
- Departed
- Bear Creek Rivr, AK
- Destination
- Kejulik River, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- Kejulik River Lodge, runway 36, 900 × 20 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
- 48
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,200 total · 1,500 in this make and model · 9,000 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
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 N4900A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.