Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chugiak, Alaska 99567
Saturday, August 19, 2006 10:15 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private certificated pilot was on a visual flight rules, personal cross-country flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the float-equipped airplane lost engine power during initial climb after takeoff. The pilot made a 180 degree turn toward the departure lake, but the airplane stalled and impacted trees. The pilot said he had moored the airplane for a week in the rain with the fuel tanks three-quarters empty. The morning of the accident, he fueled both tanks with a mixture of aviation and auto fuel. He said the preflight and engine run-up were normal, and that he used carburetor heat when the engine was idling, but not during step-taxi or takeoff. He said as the airplane climbed over trees along the shore, the engine backfired twice, and quit completely. At the site, the NTSB investigator found 5-6 pieces of "chopped" wood, each piece was about 18 inches long, about 2 inches in diameter, and appeared to have been cut by the airplane's propeller sometime during the uncontrolled descent. The engine was not accessible, and was not examined. The airplane was disassembled by agents for the pilot and stored. The pilot reported that with the airplane on floats, the wings were in a more level attitude than when sitting on the tailwheel, and any water in the tanks was more likely to move away from the sumps. He added that his practice of standing on the front of the floats while taking the fuel samples probably moved any contaminants further from the sumps. The pilot reported that in his opinion, the loss of power was due to water contamination of the fuel as a result of leaving the tanks three-quarters empty during a rainy period, in conjunction with a flawed sumping procedure.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to properly preflight the airplane and remove all water from the fuel system, which resulted in a loss of engine power during takeoff/initial climb, and subsequent loss of control. Factors associated with the accident are the pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed to preclude a stall, and the inadvertent stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/19/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1015 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Chugiak |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99567 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 612528N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1492428W |
| 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 | 1036 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 305 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PABV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3600 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.7 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21547 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Anchorage, ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 19 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2007 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Anchorage FSDO-03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5280H |
| NTSB Number | ANC06LA118 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-16 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 16-84 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Jan 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3455 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James Hagee |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chugiak |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99567 |
| 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 | Mirror Lake |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Katie Lake |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 15 2007 3:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |