- Date
- May 23, 2016, 09:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Chinita Bay, AK
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N4596UCessna U206G
- Defining event
- Taxi: Dragged wing/rotor/float/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 27, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Aministration
- FAA report
- 20160523009159A
- Case key
- 93296
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 unsuitable terrain for taxi, resulting in a tail strike and aft fuselage substantial damage.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
According to the pilot, after landing he taxied the tri-cycle landing gear-equipped airplane on a rocky, soft sand beach and the nose wheel bounced off of a sand berm. He reported that when the nose wheel bounced, the tail section contacted the ground. He recalled that he parked the airplane, inspected the empennage and determined the damage to be minor, and departed on a subsequent flight. However, a subsequent inspection of the empennage by the company's mechanic revealed that the aft fuselage bulkhead had sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that prior to the taxi there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane or any of its systems that would have prevented normal flight operations.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, after landing he taxied the tri-cycle landing gear-equipped airplane on a rocky, soft sand beach and the nose wheel bounced off of a sand berm. He reported that when the nose wheel bounced, the tail section contacted the ground. He recalled that he parked the airplane, inspected the empennage and determined the damage to be minor, and departed on a subsequent flight. However, a subsequent inspection of the empennage by the company's mechanic revealed that the aft fuselage bulkhead had sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that prior to the taxi there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the airplane or any of its systems that would have prevented normal flight operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4596U
- Reported as
- Cessna U206G (200)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- U20604990
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 18,703
- Engine
- Continental IO-540-F, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Rustair Inc
- Registered owner
- Rustair Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 30, 2016
- Departed
- PALH · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- Chinita Bay, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS, Satellite tracking device
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
- 61
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- February 4, 2016
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 13,000 total · 6,000 in this make and model · 12,900 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 24 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 8 knots, gusting 19
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.97 inHg
- Observed at
- PAWD, 56 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 23, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.2 MB in all.
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 N4596U · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.