ANC98LA161

The airplane was departing a ridgetop site with a right crosswind gusting to 25 knots. The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge that a gust of wind forced the airplane off the left side of the ridge, and the left wing struck the ground.

On September 26, 1998, at 1330 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-18, tundra tire equipped airplane, N5697Y, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during takeoff from an off airport landing site, about 55 miles south-southeast of Sleetmute, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was owned and operated by Carl E. Brent, dba Alaska Trophy Connection, of Wasilla, Alaska. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 135, as an on demand air taxi flight supporting a hunting lodge. The flight was departing from a ridgetop landing site to transport caribou meat to the Taylor Mountain Mine airstrip, three miles to the northwest. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a company VFR flight plan was filed.

The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge, during a telephone interview on September 27, and wrote in his NTSB Pilot / Operator report, that there was a crosswind from the right, gusting to 25 knots. He said that during the takeoff run, the wind got under the right wing, and the airplane was forced over the left edge of the ridge. The left wing contacted the ground, and the airplane slid to a stop 150 feet below the ridge.