- Date
- November 3, 2010, 16:30 local (23:30 UTC)
- Place
- Carnation, WA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N4389ZPiper PA-18-150
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 16, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Seattle FSDO
- Case key
- 77753
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 the proper touchdown point during a practice off-airport landing.
Findings · 4
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
During a local area personal flight, the pilot decided to make a practice landing on a gravel bar near the middle of a river. With limited landing distance, the pilot decided to fly his approach at a low airspeed, with the intention of touching down at the very edge of the bar. While on short final, the airplane encountered a downdraft and its main landing gear tires touched the surface of the water, whereupon it flipped over onto its back and came to rest upon the surface of the gravel bar. According to the pilot, there were no mechanical malfunctions with the airplane. As a result of the accident sequence, the top of the rudder and one lift strut were bent.
Factual narrative
During a local area personal flight, the pilot, who was flying a tail wheel-equipped airplane, decided to make a "practice Landing" on a gravel bar near the middle of a river. Because of the limited landing distance, the pilot flew his approach at a low airspeed, with the intention of touching down at the very edge of the bar. While on short final, the airplane encountered a downdraft and its main landing gear tires touched the surface of the water whereupon it flipped over onto its back and came to rest upon the surface of the gravel bar. According to the pilot, there were no anomalies associated with the airplane's flight control systems. As a result of the accident sequence, the top of the rudder and one lift strut were bent.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4389Z
- Reported as
- Piper PA-18-150
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18-8716
- Airframe hours
- 1,201
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320 SERIES, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- James D. Unger
- Registered owner
- Copper Mountain Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 24, 2009
- Departed
- W16 · Monroe, WA
- Destination
- W16 · Monroe, WA
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
- 58
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Last flight review
- August 1, 2009
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,120 total · 350 in this make and model · 50 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 22, 2010, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 747 KB in all.