Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Kotzebue Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kotzebue, Alaska 99752
Thursday, June 28, 2007 18:15 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport pilot reported that at the start of his second flight of the day, the airplane's brakes appeared to be locked, but the parking brake was not set. He was able to unlock the brakes by manipulating the parking brake several times, applying engine power, and by moving the nose gear steering via the rudder pedals several times. The airplane brakes released, but he did not report the brake problem to the operator. While landing at the end of the third flight, the pilot said that as soon as all three landing gear tires were on the ground, the airplane began a gradual right turn. He said he applied left brake and left rudder with minimal effect. The left main landing gear tire produced a skid mark on the runway as the airplane overshot the planned taxiway exit, and then departed off the right edge of the runway. The airplane received structural damage to the fuselage and wing spars. The airplane was equipped with hydraulic brakes, and a hydraulic parking brake valve. The parking brake valve is activated by a cable between the valve and the parking brake handle. Application of the airplane's brakes via pedal pressure, and then pulling out on the parking brake handle, sets the parking brake. After recovery from the ditch, an FAA inspector, accompanied by a mechanic from the operator, examined the airplane. Their examination revealed that the parking brake cable was not securely fastened to the airframe by its attaching clamp. This could allow the outer cable housing to move independent of the inner wire attached to the parking brake valve, and could prevent parking brake release. Partial valve activation could hold hydraulic brake pressure on the airplane's brakes, if the brakes were touched during flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Locked parking brakes and the operator's maintenance personnel's failure to properly secure the parking brake cable at its fuselage attaching clamp.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/28/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1815 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Kotzebue |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99752 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 665305N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1623555W |
| Event Location Airport | Kotzebue |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PAOT |
| 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 | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1824 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAOT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 11 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4300 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.82 |
| 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) | 23167 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 28 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL FAI FSDO 01 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3535F |
| NTSB Number | ANC07LA059 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-7952200 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7250 |
| 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 | 9 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 25529 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Frontier Flying Service Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5245 Airport Industrial Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fairbanks |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99709 |
| 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 | FFSA |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PASK |
| Departure City | Selawik |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1745 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAOT |
| Destination City | Kotzebue |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 27 2008 11:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 5900 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |