Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Koliganek, Alaska 99576
Tuesady, April 1, 2008 15:40 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he was in cruise flight about 700 feet agl over near featureless snow-covered terrain when he encounter lowering ceilings. He described the weather conditions as rapidly deteriorating. He began a turn to reverse direction, and the airplane collided with terrain. His destination, about 10 miles away, was reporting a visibility of 2 miles in mist, and a ceiling of 400 feet broken. The ceiling was variable between 200 to 900 feet. A low ceiling and snow-covered terrain likely produced flat lighting conditions, making visual reference to terrain, and determining height above the ground difficult.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's VFR flight into adverse weather conditions that resulted in a collision with snow-covered terrain during a turn to reverse direction. Factors contributing to the accident were low ceilings, flat lighting conditions, and the snow-covered terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/1/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Koliganek |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99576 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 593700N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1573042W |
| 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 | 1540 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAJZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 269 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 400 |
| 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) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.67 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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) | 24647 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 1 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 14 2008 10:53AM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8327S |
| NTSB Number | ANC08LA046 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| 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-32 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-8106039 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 6 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 8 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 84 |
| Airframe Hours | 15026 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Peninsula Airways Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6100 Boeing Ave |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anchorage |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99502 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Peninsula Airways Inc. |
| 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 | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | PNSA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PADL |
| Departure City | Dillingham |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1510 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PAJZ |
| Destination City | Koliganek |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 17 2008 5:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | eris |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |