Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Port Alsworth, Alaska 99653
Monday, March 31, 2003 18:00 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial certificated pilot was landing at a remote gravel airstrip. During final approach to the gravel bar/airstrip, the pilot said the airplane encountered a minor downdraft, and as he began to add engine power to arrest the resulting descent, the engine did not respond with any increase in power. He said he pumped the throttle without any response. The airplane continued to descend and touched down in an area of low brush, about 50 yards short of the airstrip. During the touchdown, the right main landing gear collapsed and the right wingtip struck the ground. The pilot, who holds an aircraft mechanic certificate, reported that the engine was overhauled and reinstalled on the airplane three days before the accident. At that time, he installed an overhauled carburetor. He indicated that during attempts to run the engine, after the accident, the engine would start and run at idle power. He noticed a binding of the carburetor's throttle cable or internal carburetor linkage. He replaced the throttle cable, but still felt a binding in the throttle mechanism. The pilot said he disconnected the throttle cable from the carburetor, and hand operated the throttle arm. It had binding only when the engine was running. The NTSB IIC conducted an examination of the carburetor at an aviation maintenance facility. No mechanical malfunctions were discovered during the examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. A contributing factor in the accident was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/31/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | PORT ALSWORTH |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99653 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 602900N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1554000W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | 750 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 14127 |
| NTSB Notification Source | LAKE COUNTRY LODGE INC. |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 10 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 952 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| 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 | N8106Y |
| NTSB Number | ANC03LA040 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| 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 | 18-8588 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 28 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 6.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 11800 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LAKE COUNTRY LODGE INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 777 DAVIS CIR. |
| Aircraft Owner City | PORT ALSWORTH |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99653 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | AK51 |
| Departure City | PORT ALSWORTH |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1715 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | PORT ALSWORTH |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 11 2003 3:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PETL |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 800 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |