- Date
- September 3, 1998, 20:20 local (Sep 4, 1998, 04:20 UTC)
- Place
- Cordova, AK
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8464YPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19980903039959A
- Case key
- 43879
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 selection of an unsuitable off airport site for landing. A factor associated with the accident was high vegetation (brush and weeds) in 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 reported he was landing the airplane at an off-airport site in rural Alaska. During the landing roll, the main landing gear encountered brush and weeds, the airplane decelerated rapidly, and then nosed over. The pilot credited the shoulder harnesses installed in the airplane with keeping the injuries to himself and his passenger minor.
Factual narrative
On September 3, 1998, about 2020 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N8464Y, sustained substantial damage while landing at a remote, off airport site located about 40 miles east of Cordova, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger aboard received minor injuries. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight last departed the Merle K. Smith Airport, Cordova, about 1915. The destination was the accident site.
During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 4, beginning at 1015, the pilot related he and the airplane's owner, the sole passenger aboard, were landing at the remote site to go hunting. The pilot said during the landing roll, the main landing gear tires encountered brush and weeds, the airplane decelerated rapidly, and then nosed over. He also said there were no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane, and that the shoulder harnesses installed in the airplane saved him and the passenger from serious injury.
The airplane received substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8464Y
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-8870
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Larry E. March
- Registered owner
- Kurt Feckler
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- CDV
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,800 total · 1,000 in this make and model · 1,750 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 50 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.