Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Point Lay Lrrs Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Point Lay, Alaska 99759
Thursday, December 3, 1998 10:38 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness observed the airplane circle to land at the completion of an NDB approach. The nighttime meteorological conditions were an 800 feet ceiling, 1 mile visibility in blowing snow, and 26 knot winds. The surrounding terrain was essentially flat, snow covered, and featureless. The witness saw the airplane on final approach misaligned for the runway, and then disappear below an 18 feet msl bluff. He transmitted on the radio to 'get out of there,' and heard no response. About 10 minutes later the accident pilot walked up to the witness' airplane. The pilot told the investigator-in-charge that he was 'beat around by the winds, ...it was snowing pretty hard, I always had the lights, and I was concentrating on the runway. The next thing I knew I was on the ground short of the runway.' The pilot's previous experience to this airport was during daytime, and during visual conditions. The airport, which was being transferred from the Air Force to the North Slope Borough, has medium intensity runway lights (MIRL), and runway end identifier lights (REILS). It does not have visual approach slope indicator (VASI) lights.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the pilot to maintain a proper glidepath. Factors associated with this accident were the airport not having a VASI system installed, and the lack of visual perception for the pilot.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/3/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1038 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | POINT LAY |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99759 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | POINT LAY LRRS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PIZ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 210 |
| Airport Elevation | 20 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 800 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 26 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1385 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 3 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1116 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3542H |
| NTSB Number | ANC99LA014 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-7952233 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7368 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 7 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 77 |
| Airframe Hours | 15638 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CAPE SMYTHE AIR SERVICE, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 549 |
| Aircraft Owner City | BARROW |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99723 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | CSAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | OTZ |
| Departure City | KOTZEBUE |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 919 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PIZ |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 5 |
| Runway Length | 3519 |
| Runway Width | 80 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |