Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Big Lake, Alaska 99652
Sunday, February 29, 2004 12:00 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private certificated pilot reported he was in cruise flight, about 800 feet agl, when the ski-equipped airplane began an uncommanded left turn. He applied right aileron control in an attempt to straighten the airplane, but the airplane's left bank became increasingly steep. He also applied right rudder to prevent the airplane from becoming inverted. He said the airplane was in a left descending spiral, and he decided to land as soon as possible. He selected an emergency landing area on a small frozen lake, but was unable to achieve his selected spot. He then selected a stand of trees, and during the landing, the airplane's wings, landing gear, and fuselage received extensive damage. The pilot said that the entire emergency event lasted about one minute. The airplane was rebuilt about 5 months before the accident, and had accrued about 2 hours of operation since the rebuild. The airplane skis were installed just prior to the accident flight. The airplane was disassembled and recovered from the accident site. The airplane fuselage and components were examined by NTSB and FAA personnel. No evidence of a flight control system malfunction was found. The ski retention cables and springs exhibited no anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An in-flight loss of control for an undetermined reason, which resulted in a forced landing and in-flight collision with trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/29/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | Big Lake |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99652 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 614228N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1503100W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1150 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PASW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 148 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 306 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.27 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15972 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 29 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1533 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 1 2004 7:08AM |
| 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 | N4492H |
| NTSB Number | ANC04LA033 |
| 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-15 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15-280 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1150 |
| 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 | Sep 14 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 2810 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ted W. Greene |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anchorage |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99508 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Skwentna |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PAMR |
| Destination City | Anchorage |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 17 2004 2:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PETL |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |