- Date
- July 31, 1999, 19:10 local (Aug 1, 1999, 03:10 UTC)
- Place
- Levelock, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N693JBPiper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 23, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990731023319A
- Case key
- 47154
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.
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 told the NTSB investigator-in-charge that during an off airport landing on tundra, the tundra tire equipped airplane nosed over, damaging the left wing tip rib, and the overhead crossbar in the cabin roof. He said there were no preaccident anomalies with the airplane.
Factual narrative
On July 31, 1999, about 1910 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N693JB, sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during landing at an off airport landing site, about 10 miles west of Levelock, Alaska. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. The business flight was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by RDM Pilot/Guide, Ltd., of Anchorage, Alaska. The flight departed King Salmon, Alaska, at 1900 to look for game. 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 August 6, and wrote in his NTSB Pilot/Operator report, that during an off airport landing on tundra, the airplane nosed over. The left wing tip rib, and the overhead crossbar in the cabin roof, were damaged. He indicated there were no preaccident anomalies with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N693JB
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-1255
- Airframe hours
- 4,578
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Rdm Pilot / Guide, Ltd.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 3, 1999 · 128 hours before
- Departed
- AKN · King Salmon, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 24
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,328 total · 567 in this make and model · 1,226 as pilot in command · 193 in the last 90 days · 27 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 260° at 10 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,700 ft broken
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.