- Date
- July 20, 1998, 20:00 local (Jul 21, 1998, 04:00 UTC)
- Place
- Fairbanks, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N92197Cessna 182
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 19, 1999
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19980720028139A
- Case key
- 43721
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 attain the proper touchdown point. A factor associated with this accident was the high brush at the approach end of the landing area.
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 told two FAA inspectors that while attempting to land in five knots of wind, the airplane touched down short of the intended off airport landing site. The left wing dragged into tall brush, and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On July 20, 1998, about 2000 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna 182 airplane, N92197, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during landing on an off airport landing site at the Caribou Mine, located about 45 miles east-northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91, as a personal flight. The flight departed Fairbanks about 1915 on July 20. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The accident was reported by local residents to the FAA on August 1.
The pilot told two FAA inspectors during an interview on August 3, that while landing at the Caribou Mine, the airplane touched down short of the landing area, the left wing dragged into brush, and the airplane nosed over, damaging both wings and the tail. He described the weather to the FAA inspectors as 4,000 feet overcast, with five knots of wind from the southeast. According to the FAA inspectors who interviewed the pilot, he had an estimated 24,000 hours of flight experience.
The pilot did not submit a Pilot / Operator Report, NTSB Form 6120.1/2, nor did he respond to the Safety Board's letters.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N92197
- Reported as
- Cessna 182
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18260083
- Engine
- Continental O-470, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Harold T. Griffin
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- FAI · AK
- Destination
- Caribou Mine, AK
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
- 74
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 24,000 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft overcast
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.