- Date
- August 20, 1999, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Sleetmute, AK
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N82905Piper PA-18
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 23, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19990820013239A
- Case key
- 47179
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 takeoff area, which resulted in the airplane colliding with vegetation, knocking the gascolator off the airplane, and fuel starvation of the engine.
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
During takeoff from an off airport ridgetop landing area, the airplane struck a two inch diameter, four feet tall bush. The pilot said he smelled fuel, and the engine quit. The pilot made a forced landing into trees below the ridge, damaging the right landing gear mount. The engine gascolator separated from the airplane, and was found next to the first bush which the airplane impacted.
Factual narrative
On August 20, 1999, about 1430 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped, Piper PA-18, N82905, sustained substantial damage when it collided with terrain after takeoff from an off airport site about 45 miles south-southeast of Sleetmute, Alaska, at 60 degrees 58 minutes north latitude, 157 degrees 22 minutes west longitude. The commercial pilot sustained minor injuries, and the one passenger on board was not injured. The airplane was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by Restoration Through Recreation - Alaskan Adventures, of Rocklin, California, in support of the owner's hunting-guide business. The flight was departing a ridgetop landing area for the guide's camp on the Hoholitna River, Alaska. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed.
During a telephone interview with the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) on August 23, the pilot stated that during the takeoff, the airplane struck a two inch diameter, four feet tall bush. He indicated he smelled fuel, and the engine quit. The pilot made a forced landing into trees below the ridge, damaging the right landing gear mount. The engine gascolator separated from the airplane, and was found next to the first bush which the airplane impacted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N82905
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-7709197
- Airframe hours
- 3,600
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Rocky C. Mcelveen
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 15, 1999 · 90 hours before
- Destination
- Hoholitna River, 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
- 56
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 7,500 total · 3,000 in this make and model · 7,500 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 90 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 15 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 50 °F
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 N82905 · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.