Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cordova, Alaska 99574
Tuesady, August 31, 2004 16:50 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial certificated pilot was preparing to taxi for takeoff. Another airplane taxied behind the accident airplane, waiting for the pilot to proceed. The pilot was not ready, and motioned to the second airplane to move ahead. When it did not move, the pilot decided to move his airplane out of the way, and he taxied outside of the taxiway lights and stopped. The pilot said that the sun was in his eyes, and after the second airplane departed, he began to taxi his airplane forward. He did not see a taxiway sign for taxiway "C" that was under the nose of his airplane. The sign was about 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high. The right main landing gear struck the sign, and the landing gear strut was displaced aft about 18 inches. The right wing lift struts were bent when they struck the top of the taxiway sign.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout during taxi, which resulted in a collision with a runway marker sign. A factor contributing to the accident was sunglare in the pilot's eyes.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/31/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1650 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Cordova |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99574 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 602931N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1452840W |
| Event Location Airport | Merle K (Mudhole) Smith |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PACV |
| 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 | 42 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PACV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 42 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| 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) | 30.03 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17372 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 31 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1813 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2005 6:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL-JNU FSDO 05 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4241H |
| NTSB Number | ANC04LA100 |
| 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-14 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 14-44 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1827 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 26 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 98 |
| Airframe Hours | 9596 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Clifford P. Collins |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cordova |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99574 |
| 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 | PACV |
| Departure City | Cordova |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1650 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 15Z |
| Destination City | McCarthy |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - to takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |