Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Girdwood Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Girdwood, Alaska 99587
Saturday, November 8, 2008 16:49 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor was on an instructional flight with a student pilot and decided to land at a different airport prior to returning to the departure airport. He said that while above the airport where he intended to land he received a report from another pilot that there were 4-5 inches of snow on the runway. He made a successful soft-field landing and taxied back to the threshold to demonstrate a soft-field takeoff. The pilot said the airplane accelerated slowly on takeoff, and did not reach rotation speed before running through the runway end markers. He said the airplane continued down an embankment and came to rest in a creek. He said there were no known mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident and that the airplane sustained damage to the wings and fuselage. In a written statement, the pilot wrote that the accident could have been avoided by not landing on a runway with more than an inch of snow.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's decision to attempt to take off on a snow-covered runway. Contributing to the accident was the snow-covered runway.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/8/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1649 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | Girdwood |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99587 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 605758N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1490733W |
| Event Location Airport | Girdwood |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AQY |
| 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 | 150 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24987 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Anchorage, ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2009 4:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9099H |
| NTSB Number | ANC09CA010 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17265943 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AERO TECH FLIGHT SERVICE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99501 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AERO TECH FLIGHT SERVICE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ANCHORAGE |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99501 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | AQY |
| Departure City | Girdwood |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1649 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MRI |
| Destination City | Merrill Field |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2009 4:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 2088 |
| Runway Width | 73 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |