- Date
- May 25, 1998, 08:40 local (16:40 UTC)
- Place
- Minchumina, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1199EBellanca 8GCBC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 17, 1999
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19980525010609A
- Case key
- 3142
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 pilot's failure to maintain directional control while landing. A factor associated with this accident was the pilot's inadequate recovery from a bounced landing.
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 solo student was landing at a remote, gravel airstrip. He stated that he visually inspected the airport wind sock and determined the winds were 'light and variable', favoring runway 20. He stated that the approach was normal until he went below the adjacent tree line, and the rate of descent increased. He was unable to arrest the descent prior to touchdown, and the airplane hit hard and bounced twice. He was unable to maintain directional control, and the airplane turned 45 degrees from its original runway heading. He said that in an attempt to abort the landing, he added full power, and the airplane went off the right side of the runway. The left wing struck a stand of trees.
Factual narrative
On May 25, 1998, about 0840 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Bellanca 8GCBC airplane, N1199E, sustained substantial damage while landing at the Minchumina Airport, Minchumina, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) student cross country flight under Title 14 CFR Part 91 when the accident occurred. The solo student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a VFR flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the Chena Marina Airport, Fairbanks, Alaska, about 0721.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge, on May 27, the student pilot reported that, prior to landing, he looked at the airport wind sock and determined the winds were "light and variable", favoring runway 20. He stated that the approach was normal until he went below the adjacent tree line, and the rate of descent increased. He was unable to arrest the descent prior to touchdown, and the airplane hit hard and bounced twice. The pilot noted in his written statement that he was unable to maintain directional control, and the airplane turned 45 degrees from its original runway heading. The pilot stated that in an attempt to abort the landing, he added full power, and the airplane went off the right side of the runway. The left wing struck a stand of trees and received substantial damage.
The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1199E
- Reported as
- Bellanca 8GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 254-77
- Airframe hours
- 1,436
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-C1E, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Michael Helmbrecht
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 5, 1997 · 13 hours before
- Departed
- AK28 · Chena Marina, AK
- Destination
- MHM · Minchumina, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- MHM · Minchumina, runway 20, 4,200 × 90 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
- 42
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 61 total · 61 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- 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.