Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Carson Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kalispell, Montana 58901
Saturday, April 4, 2009 15:21 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane used for the skydiving operation was equipped with a foot step just above the right wheel, which the skydivers used to launch from the airplane. As the last of four skydivers stepped on the foot step, the right main landing gear fell away. The pilot reported that after he flew around for about 1 1/2 hours to burn off fuel, he intended to perform a low pass over the runway before coming around to land. The carburetor heat was turned on during the descent and, as he applied power to go around at midfield, the engine sputtered and lost partial power. The airplane was about 20 feet above ground level and he was able to maintain that altitude past the runway end before landing off the runway surface on snowy terrain. The airplane subsequently nosed over and came to rest inverted, sustaining substantial damage to both wings and the empennage. The carburetor heat was found in the “off” position; however, the investigation did not determine if the pilot turned off the carburetor heat or if it was pushed in by impact forces. Examination of the main landing gear revealed a fracture originating at the forward upper surface spring. The fracture surface displayed features indicative of fatigue cracking; the depth of the cracking was approximately 0.11 inches. An examination of the engine and carburetor revealed no anomalies that could account for the loss of partial power. The meteorological conditions were not conducive to carburetor icing.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A partial loss of engine power during a go-around for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was a fatigue failure of the right main landing gear spring.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/4/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1521 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Kalispell |
| Event State | MONTANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 58901 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 481838N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1141523W |
| Event Location Airport | Carson Field Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MT53 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 3550 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1455 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GPI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2977 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 28077 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Simpson, NTSB |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 15 2011 5:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6433A |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA179 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 33233 |
| 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 | 1 |
| 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 | 6859 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Fred Sand |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Marion |
| Aircraft Owner State | MT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 59925 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Fred Sand |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Marion |
| Operator State | MT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 59925 |
| 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) | Skydiving |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | S27 |
| Departure City | Kalispell |
| Departure State | MT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MT53 |
| Destination City | Kalispell |
| Destination State | MT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 15 2011 5:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 14 |
| Runway Length | 3660 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |