CORDOVA, AK, USA
N8464Y
Piper PA-18
The pilot reported he was landing the airplane at an off-airport site in rural Alaska. During the landing roll, the main landing gear encountered brush and weeds, the airplane decelerated rapidly, and then nosed over. The pilot credited the shoulder harnesses installed in the airplane with keeping the injuries to himself and his passenger minor.
On September 3, 1998, about 2020 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N8464Y, sustained substantial damage while landing at a remote, off airport site located about 40 miles east of Cordova, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger aboard received minor injuries. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight operated in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight last departed the Merle K. Smith Airport, Cordova, about 1915. The destination was the accident site. During a telephone conversation with the NTSB investigator-in-charge on September 4, beginning at 1015, the pilot related he and the airplane's owner, the sole passenger aboard, were landing at the remote site to go hunting. The pilot said during the landing roll, the main landing gear tires encountered brush and weeds, the airplane decelerated rapidly, and then nosed over. He also said there were no preimpact mechanical problems with the airplane, and that the shoulder harnesses installed in the airplane saved him and the passenger from serious injury. The airplane received substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
The pilot's selection of an unsuitable off airport site for landing. A factor associated with the accident was high vegetation (brush and weeds) in the landing area.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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