Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Merrill Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Anchorage, Alaska 99502
Saturday, January 12, 2002 13:32 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The certificated flight instructor was providing instruction to the private pilot/new owner of a tundra tire-equipped, tailwheel airplane. The flight instructor occupied the rear seat of the airplane. The pilot/owner had accrued 66 total flight hours, 14 hours as pilot-in-command, and .5 hours in the accident airplane. Five minutes after takeoff, the student was performing a landing on an asphalt surface runway that had areas of ice along the edges. During the landing roll the airplane began to drift to the right. The instructor applied left rudder, but the airplane departed the right side of the runway into an area of snow. The airplane nosed over and received damage to the propeller, fuselage, and wing lift struts. The right master brake cylinder, installed in the front seat area, was serviced before the flight. A heater hose was installed in the cabin to direct heat into the rear seat area. The instructor reported that the airplane's right brake felt as if it was locked, which she said may have been due to overfilling the brake reservoir, and heating of the brake cylinder by the heater. The instructor cited two previous NTSB reports of brake cylinder locking after extended flight with a heater hose blowing hot air on a brake reservoir. A review of the two previous accidents disclosed airplanes had locked brakes during landing, both within five days of each other in 1997. The previous NTSB accident reports involved two aircraft where a heater hose was directed onto the master brake cylinders after the brake cylinders were serviced. One of the accidents involved 1.5 hours of flight time before landing. The second accident involved 3 hours of flight time before landing. The accident airplane's brake system was not examined postaccident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's inadequate supervision of the flight. Factors in the accident were the student's failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during the landing roll, icy runway conditions, and snow-covered terrain along the runway edges.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/12/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1332 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | ANCHORAGE |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99502 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 611252N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1495046W |
| Event Location Airport | MERRILL FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PAMR |
| 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 | 137 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1335 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAMR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 137 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 28 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12092 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA REGIONAL OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 12 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2002 11:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9908D |
| NTSB Number | ANC02LA009 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18-6949 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 9 |
| Airframe Hours | 3009 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GREG L. STERNQUIST |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99516 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | Z41 |
| Departure City | ANCHORAGE |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAMR |
| Destination City | ANCHORAGE |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 12 2002 1:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 06 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |