KARLUK, AK, USA
N4327P
PIPER PA-32-301
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE CIRCLED THE LANDING AREA ON A BEACH TWICE TO DETERMINE THE WIND AND SUITABILITY OF THE AREA. DURING THE FINAL STAGE OF THE LANDING FLARE (ABOUT TWO FEET ABOVE THE GROUND), HE HEARD A LOUD THUMP OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE AIRPLANE. HE INTIATED A GO-AROUND AND OBSERVED A DENT IN THE OUTBOARD SECTION OF THE RIGHT WING. HE ELECTED TO LAND AT KING SALMON. AFTER LANDING, AN EIGHT INCH CIRCULAR GASH WAS FOUND IN THE LEADING EDGE OF THE RIGHT WING IN THE AREA OF THE OUTBOARD SPAR. A SUBSEQUENT INSPECTION OF THE BEECH AREA WAS MADE BY COMPANY PERSONNEL, BUT THEY COULD NOT IDENTIFY THE OBJECT THAT THE AIRPLANE HAD HIT.
On October 20, 1993, at 1115 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Piper PA-32-301, N4327P, owned and operated by Peninsula Airways, Inc., dba PENAIR, struck an object during a landing attempt on Kanatak Beach. Kanatak is approximately 54 miles west of Karluk, Alaska, on the east coast of the Alaska peninsula. The commercial rated pilot-in-command, the sole occupant, was not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The positioning flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, last departed King Salmon at 1030 and the destination was Kanatak Beach to pick up some freight from a previous charter. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company flight plan was in effect. The pilot-in-command told the NTSB investigator-in-charge during a telephone conversation that he circled the landing area twice checking for conditions on the beach. He was in the final stage of the landing flare (about two feet off the ground) when he heard a loud thump off the right side of the airplane. He looked out along the right wing leading edge and observed a dent in the outboard portion of the wing. He balked the landing and returned to King Salmon. Upon landing, an eight inch circular gash was found along the leading edge of the right wing in the area of the outboard spar. A subsequent inspection of the beach area by company personnel in the days following the mishap could not determine the object that the airplane collided with. The results of the toxicology tests performed on the pilot were negative.
THE SELECTION OF UNSUITABLE TERRAIN FOR LANDING.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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