Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Emmonak Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Emmonak, Alaska 99581
Thursday, September 14, 2000 19:10 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport certificated pilot was landing a twin engine airplane on a rough, gravel runway that contained potholes. The commuter flight had just departed a similar, rough runway. During the landing roll, the airplane rolled down the runway for about 600 feet. The right main landing gear wheel then rotated about 90 degrees in its landing gear strut housing, and slid along the surface of the gravel runway for several hundred feet. The lower landing gear strut and wheel then broke away from the upper strut housing. The right wing settled onto the runway. The right propeller tips, and the trailing edge of the right flap were damaged. The right wing attach points for the landing gear were not damaged. Upon inspection of the airplane, a torque link, installed on the right main landing gear strut, was found fractured at the outer pivot bolt hole. An metallurgical examination of the torque link revealed a fracture through the pivot point of the link with features typical of overstress separation. No evidence of preexisting conditions, such as crack arrest marks, or corrosion damage was found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued operation of the airplane on unsuitable terrain, and the subsequent failure of the main landing gear torque link. Factors in the accident were rough and uneven runways, and inadequate surveillance of airport facilities/runway conditions by company management.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/14/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1910 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | EMMONAK |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99581 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | EMMONAK |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PAEM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 14 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| 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 | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 225 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 12 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1079 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA REGIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 14 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2145 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 10 2001 4:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4105D |
| NTSB Number | ANC00LA133 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-8252027 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 5 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 9340 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GRANT AVIATION INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 92200 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99509 |
| 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 | ENHA |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | AUK |
| Departure City | ALAKANUK |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAEM |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 4400 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |