- Date
- June 25, 1999, 15:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Chugiak, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N63832Jasper THUNDERBIRD-2C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 23, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990625023999A
- Case key
- 46713
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 failure of the pilot in command to maintain the proper rate of descend and flare, following an engine failure for undetermined reasons.
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 was on final approach to land when the engine lost power. The pilot landed hard on the 1,000 feet long by 50 feet wide ultralight runway. The control yoke support tube, and aileron control cables were damaged. It was the pilot's first flight in the experimental, kit built airplane.
Factual narrative
On June 25, 1999, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, an experimental Jasper Thunderbird-2C airplane, N63832, sustained substantial damage during a hard landing at the Birchwood Airport, Chugiak, Alaska. The solo private pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 as a local area personal flight. The flight departed the Birchwood Airport about 1430, and remained in the local traffic pattern. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed.
The pilot stated to the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) during a telephone interview on July 6, that the engine lost power on final approach to ultralight runway 01. The airplane landed hard on the 1,000 feet long by 50 feet wide ultralight runway. The right-forward control yoke support tube was fractured, and two aileron teleflex control cables were damaged. The pilot had no explanation for the loss of engine power. It was the pilot's first flight in the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63832
- Reported as
- Jasper THUNDERBIRD-2C (THUNDERBIR)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 99218
- Engine
- Rotax 582, 66 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Cary W. Jasper
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- BCV · Birchwood, AK
- Airport
- BCV · Birchwood, runway 1, 1,000 × 50 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
- 44
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 150 total · 1 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.