- Date
- March 28, 1999, 13:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Glennallen, AK
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3452DCessna 180
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990328011809A
- Case key
- 46042
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 landing site. A factor associated with the accident was the soft, snow-covered terrain.
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 related he was landing his wheel equipped tailwheel airplane on a snow-covered airstrip. During the landing roll, the left main tire encountered soft snow, and the pilot was unable to keep the airplane from becoming mired in the snow. The airplane subsequently nosed over and received substantial dmage.
Factual narrative
On March 28, 1999, about 1300 Alaska standard time, a wheel equipped Cessna 180 airplane, N3452D, sustained substantial damage while landing at the Skelton Airstrip, about 55 miles west-southwest of Glennallen, Alaska. The private pilot and the two passengers aboard were not injured. The personal flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight last departed Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1200. The destination was the Skelton Airstrip.
During a telephone conversation with an NTSB investigator on March 29, the pilot related he was landing to the south on packed snow. During the landing roll, the pilot said the left main landing gear tire encountered soft snow. He said the left main landing gear and tire sank into the snow, and he could not prevent the airplane from nosing over.
According to the pilot, the left wing tip, the left wing lift strut, the vertical stabilizer, and the rudder, were damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3452D
- Reported as
- Cessna 180
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32149
- Airframe hours
- 7,988
- Engine
- Continental O-470K, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Joseph A. Masters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 11, 1998 · 12 hours before
- Departed
- MRI · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- AZK
- Airport
- AZK · Skelton, runway 21, 2,400 × 60 ft, gravel
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
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 265 total · 125 in this make and model · 250 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.