- Date
- September 9, 1998, 07:50 local (15:50 UTC)
- Place
- Willow, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N30961Piper PA-11
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19980909022869A
- Case key
- 43914
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 takeoff area from the lake. Factors were the obstruction (point of land) hidden in the glare from the rising sun.
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 seaplane struck a point of land during step taxi for takeoff. The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge that he was taking off into the sun, and was partially blinded. He said he misjudged his location in the lake, and did not see the point of land in his takeoff path.
Factual narrative
On September 9, 1998, at 0750 Alaska daylight time, a float equipped Piper PA-11 airplane sustained substantial damage when it struck terrain during the takeoff run from Honeybee Lake, two miles south of Willow, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. The flight was operated under 14 CFR Part 91, as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed.
The pilot told two FAA inspectors who interviewed him at the accident site on September 9, and wrote in his NTSB Pilot / Operator report, that during step taxi for takeoff, while heading into the sun, the airplane struck a point of land extending into the lake. The pilot indicated that the point of land was in the shadow of some trees, and he was partially blinded by the sun. He said he misjudged the airplane's location in the lake. The airplane sustained damage to the floats and wing lift struts.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N30961
- Reported as
- Piper PA-11
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 11-1377
- Airframe hours
- 3,761
- Engine
- Continental 12F, 90 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kurt W. Stenehjen
- Registered owner
- Timothy R. Geiermann
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 13, 1998 · 58 hours before
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 288 total · 288 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TKA, 35 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.