McCall, ID, USA
N3458Y
Cessna 180H
While flying base leg into Wilson Bar Airstrip, the pilot said he encountered "several moderate downdrafts." He said that he flew the final approach with 65 to 70 miles per hour (mph), but encountered a severe downdraft on short final (there was an approximate 35 foot bank from the river to the end of the runway). He applied full power, "was able to keep the aircraft from being driven into the river," but now had "excessive" airspeed. He landed long (the runway was 1,500 feet in length), and overran the end of the runway and nosed over. The engine's mount, firewall, and cowling were bent, the vertical stabilizer and rudder were bent, and the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer were bent and wrinkled. In the AirNav.com additional remarks for Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip it states: "Strip downdrafts prevalent on approach to runway 24."
On September 7, 2004, at approximately 1700 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 180H, N3458Y, was substantially damaged when it overran the airstrip (runway 24) and nosed over at Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip (ID76), near Mc Call, Idaho. The private pilot, the sole occupant of the airplane, received minor injuries. The pilot/owner was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal cross-country flight that originated from McCall, Idaho, 1 hour before the accident. The pilot had filed a VFR flight plan. The pilot said that while flying base leg into Wilson Bar Airstrip, he encountered "several moderate downdrafts." He said that he flew the final approach with 65 to 70 miles per hour (mph), but encountered a severe downdraft on short final (there is an approximate 35 foot bank from the river to the end of the runway). He applied full power, "was able to keep the aircraft from being driven into the river," but now had "excessive" airspeed. He landed long (the runway was 1,500 feet in length), and overran the end of the runway and nosed over. The engine's mount, firewall, and cowling were bent, the vertical stabilizer and rudder were bent, and the right wing and right horizontal stabilizer were bent and wrinkled. In the AirNav.com additional remarks for Wilson Bar USFS Airstrip it states: "Strip downdrafts prevalent on approach to runway 24."
The pilot's failure to attain proper touchdown point for landing on the backcountry airstrip. Contributing factors were downdraft weather conditions and the pilot's excessive speed for landing.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
Aviation Accidents App
In-Depth Access to Aviation Accident Reports
