- Date
- September 7, 2004, 17:00 local (Sep 8, 2004, 00:00 UTC)
- Place
- McCall, ID
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N3458YCessna 180H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 3, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Spokane, WA
- FAA report
- 20040907020949A
- Case key
- 60163
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 attain proper touchdown point for landing on the backcountry airstrip. Contributing factors were downdraft weather conditions and the pilot's excessive speed for landing.
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
While flying base leg into Wilson Bar Airstrip, the pilot said he encountered "several moderate downdrafts." He said that he flew the final approach with 65 to 70 miles per hour (mph), but encountered a severe downdraft on short final (there was an approximate 35 foot bank from the river to the end of the runway). He applied full power, "was able to keep the aircraft from being driven into the river," but now had "excessive" airspeed. He landed long (the runway was 1,500 feet in length), and overran the end of the runway and nosed over. The engine's mount, firewall, and cowling were bent, the vertical stabilizer and rudder were bent, and the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer were bent and wrinkled. In the AirNav.com additional remarks for Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip it states: "Strip downdrafts prevalent on approach to runway 24."
Factual narrative
On September 7, 2004, at approximately 1700 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 180H, N3458Y, was substantially damaged when it overran the airstrip (runway 24) and nosed over at Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip (ID76), near Mc Call, Idaho. The private pilot, the sole occupant of the airplane, received minor injuries. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal cross-country flight that originated from McCall, Idaho, 1 hour before the accident. The pilot had filed a VFR flight plan.
The pilot said that while flying base leg into Wilson Bar Airstrip, he encountered "several moderate downdrafts." He said that he flew the final approach with 65 to 70 miles per hour (mph), but encountered a severe downdraft on short final (there is an approximate 35 foot bank from the river to the end of the runway). He applied full power, "was able to keep the aircraft from being driven into the river," but now had "excessive" airspeed. He landed long (the runway was 1,500 feet in length), and overran the end of the runway and nosed over. The engine's mount, firewall, and cowling were bent, the vertical stabilizer and rudder were bent, and the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer were bent and wrinkled.
In the AirNav.com additional remarks for Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip it states: "Strip downdrafts prevalent on approach to runway 24."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3458Y
- Reported as
- Cessna 180H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18051958
- Airframe hours
- 4,640
- Engine
- Continental O-470-50, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jesse Reagan Stone
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 11, 2004 · 173 hours before
- Departed
- MYL · McCall, ID
- Destination
- ID76 · McCall, ID
- Airport
- ID76 · Wilson Bar USFS Arpt, runway 24, 1,500 × 50 ft, grass/turf
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
- 55
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Last flight review
- June 8, 2003
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,098 total · 827 in this make and model · 1,003 as pilot in command · 155 in the last 90 days · 44 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- MYL, 40 nm away
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 N3458Y · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.