- Date
- March 7, 1999, 15:40 local (19:40 UTC)
- Place
- Big Lake, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4040MPiper PA-12
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990307014119A
- Case key
- 45888
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 unsuitable terrain for landing the wheel equipped airplane. A factor associated with the accident was the soft snow covering the frozen lake.
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 of the wheel equipped airplane said he saw other airplanes landing on the surface of the frozen lake. He decided to land in the same area. The pilot said that during the landing roll the snow was initially hard packed as it had appeared from the air. The wheels then contacted soft snow, and the airplane nosed over.
Factual narrative
On March 7, 1999, about 1540 Alaska standard time, a wheel equipped, Piper PA-12, N4040M, sustained substantial damage while landing on the frozen surface of Flathorn Lake, approximately 20 miles southwest of Big Lake, Alaska. The airline transport pilot and the two passengers on board were not injured. The airplane was being operated as a local, personal flight under 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed Anderson Lake, Palmer, Alaska, about 1500. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed.
The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) during a telephone interview on March 8, and wrote in his NTSB Pilot / Operator report, that he saw other airplanes landing on the frozen surface of Flathorn Lake, and decided to land as well. During landing the snow was initially hard packed as it had appeared from the air. During the landing roll, the airplane's tires sank into soft snow, and the airplane nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4040M
- Reported as
- Piper PA-12
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 12-2923
- Airframe hours
- 2,040
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Mark Alger
- Registered owner
- Randall J. Lufberry
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 7, 1998 · 20 hours before
- Departed
- Palmer, AK
- Destination
- Palmer, 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
- 38
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 12,000 total · 40 in this make and model · 5,000 as pilot in command · 130 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 21 °F, dew point 5 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ANC, 26 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.
Other investigations on N4040M · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.