- Date
- March 16, 1999, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Healy, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9023LChampion 7GCBC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 20, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Case key
- 45962
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 inadequate recovery from a bounced landing. A factor associated with the accident was a snowbank.
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 landing in a tailwheel equipped airplane. The pilot stated in his written report that the airplane bounced on initial touchdown, and he attempted to abort the landing by applying full power. He said the airplane became airborne, veered to the left, and settled onto the runway edge. The pilot noted that during the second touchdown the left wheel contacted soft snow, and he was unable to maintain directional control. The airplane went off the left side of the 2,920 feet long by 60 feet wide runway, and came to rest in a ditch that borders the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing, right landing gear leg, and fuselage. The pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On March 16, 1999, about 1700 Alaska standard time, a wheel equipped Champion 7GCBC airplane, N9023L, sustained substantial damage while landing at the Healy airstrip, Healy, Alaska. The certificated private pilot, and the one passenger aboard, were not injured. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated at the Fairbanks International Airport, Fairbanks, Alaska, about 1650.
In his written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board, the pilot reported that while landing on runway 15, the airplane bounced on initial touchdown, and he attempted to abort the landing by applying full power. He said the airplane became airborne, veered to the left, and settled onto the runway edge. The pilot noted that during the second touchdown the left wheel contacted soft snow, and he was unable to maintain directional control. The airplane went off the left side of the 2,920 feet long by 60 feet wide runway, and came to rest in a ditch that borders the runway.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing, right landing gear leg, and fuselage.
The pilot noted that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9023L
- Reported as
- Champion 7GCBC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 246-70
- Airframe hours
- 1,870
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- George M. Thompson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 5, 1998 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- FAI · Fairbanks, AK
- Airport
- HRR · Healy River, runway 15, 2,920 × 60 ft, asphalt
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 517 total · 22 in this make and model · 471 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 16 °F