Skwentna, AK, USA
N3386U
Cessna 182
The private certificated pilot was landing at a remote airstrip next to his cabin, which is located next to a river. The airstrip, positioned on a 260/080 degree magnetic orientation, is about 1,100 feet long and 100 feet wide. The threshold of runway 26 begins at the bank of the river. The pilot said that during the landing, the nose wheel struck the lip of the river bank. The airplane then nosed over, and received damage to the wings and fuselage.
On September 15, 2003, about 1400 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire-equipped Cessna 182 airplane, N3386U, sustained substantial damage when it collided with a river bank during the landing touchdown at a remote airstrip, about 12 miles north-northwest of Skwentna, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated by the pilot. The private certificated pilot and one passenger received minor injuries; the remaining passenger received serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1315. No flight plan was filed, nor was one required. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on September 16, the pilot reported that he was landing on runway 26 at an airstrip next to his cabin, located along the edge of the Yentna River. The airstrip, positioned on a 260/080 degree magnetic orientation, is about 1,100 feet long and 100 feet wide. The threshold of runway 26 begins at the bank of the river. The pilot said that during the landing, the nose wheel struck the lip of the river bank. The airplane then nosed over, and received damage to the wings and fuselage.
The pilot's misjudgment of the distance/altitude to the touchdown point during landing, which resulted in an undershoot and collision with a river bank. A factor contributing to the accident was the presence of a river bank that formed the beginning of the runway threshold.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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