- Date
- September 18, 1998, 11:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Chalkitsik, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N9407CCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 30, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19980918025579A
- Case key
- 44013
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 identify an unsafe/hazardous condition. A factor associated with the accident was soft terrain conditions.
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 private pilot was departing from a remote airstrip in a tailwheel equipped airplane. He reported that on the day of the accident he had already completed three round trips from the accident airstrip, ferrying passengers and supplies. He stated that during the accident takeoff run, about one-quarter down the runway, the airplane's main wheels sank into about 10 inches of soft mud. The airplane then nosed over, and sustained substantial damage to the wings, and rudder.
Factual narrative
On September 18, 1998, about 1130 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped Cessna 180 airplane, N9407C, sustained substantial damage during takeoff from a remote airstrip located about 17 miles southwest of Chalkitsik, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The certificated private pilot, and the one passenger aboard, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the accident airstrip, about 1125.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge on September 22, the pilot reported that on the day of the accident he had already completed three round trips from the accident airstrip, ferrying passengers and supplies. He stated that during the accident takeoff run, about one-quarter down the runway, the airplane's main wheels sank into about 10 inches of soft mud. The airplane then nosed over, and sustained substantial damage to the wings, and rudder.
The pilot noted that there were no preaccident anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9407C
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31805
- Airframe hours
- 4,380
- Engine
- Continental O-470-K, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Richard E. Tyrrell
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 1998 · 68 hours before
- Destination
- CHP · Circle Hot Spr, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- runway 27, 1,300 × ft, dirt
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,895 total · 477 in this make and model · 1,857 as pilot in command · 74 in the last 90 days · 31 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 45 °F
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 N9407C · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.