- Date
- June 6, 2006, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Turner, ME
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Uncontrolled descent
- Aircraft
- N185RWCessna A185E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 3, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20060606016379A
- Case key
- 63844
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 failure to obtain the proper touchdown point, resulting in a runway undershoot, and substantial damage to the airplane.
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 elected to land with a tailwind, on a turf runway that was adjacent and perpendicular to a riverbank. With the Cessna 185 configured for landing, and just prior to touchdown, the airplane experienced an increase in descent rate due to "either an increase in the tailwind or a downdraft." The airplane struck the face of the runway below the landing surface, collapsing the right main landing gear, and resulting in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical deficiencies of the airplane, and when asked how the accident could have been prevented stated, "carried more airspeed to counter the effect of [the] possible increased tailwind."
Factual narrative
The pilot elected to land with a tailwind, on a turf runway that was adjacent and perpendicular to a riverbank. With the Cessna 185 configured for landing, and just prior to touchdown, the airplane experienced an increase in descent rate due to "either an increase in the tailwind or a downdraft." The airplane struck the face of the runway below the landing surface, collapsing the right main landing gear, and resulting in substantial damage. The pilot did not report any mechanical deficiencies of the airplane, and when asked how the accident could have been prevented stated, "carried more airspeed to counter the effect of [the] possible increased tailwind."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N185RW
- Reported as
- Cessna A185E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 185-02060
- Engine
- Continental IO-520D, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- NONE · Scarborough, ME
- Destination
- 3B5 · Turner, ME
- Airport
- 3B5 · Twitchell Airport, runway 30
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
- 51
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 3,050 total · 1,600 in this make and model · 34 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.