BLISS, ID, USA
N859A
CESSNA 206
WHILE LANDING INTO THE SETTING SUN ON A 30 FOOT WIDE AIRSTRIP, THE PILOT ELECTED TO ABORT THE LANDING BECAUSE THE SUNGLARE MADE IT HARD TO SEE THE RUNWAY. DURING THE ABORTED LANDING THE PILOT FAILED TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL, AND THE AIRCRAFT DEPARTED THE RUNWAY. AFTER EXITING THE RUNWAY, THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER IN THE SOFT TERRAIN OF AN ADJACENT POTATO FIELD.
On August 26, 1994, approximately 2000 mountain daylight time (MDT), a Cessna 206, N859A, nosed over during a VFR go-around at a private airstrip near Bliss, Idaho. The private pilot and his three passengers were not injured, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The personal pleasure flight, which departed Smiley Creek Airport, Galena, Idaho, about one-half hour earlier, was in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and there was no report of an ELT activation. According to the pilot, because he was landing almost directly into the setting sun on a 30 foot wide airstrip, he lost sight of the runway during the landing flare. He therefore attempted a go-around while looking into the glare of the setting sun. During the go-around, the aircraft departed the airstrip and nosed over in the soft terrain of a potato field alongside the runway.
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. FACTORS INCLUDE SUNGLARE FROM THE SETTING SUN, AND THE SOFT TERRAIN ALONG THE SIDE THE RUNWAY.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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