5 Sep 2009: PIPER PA-18 — JEFFREY W. CROLL

5 Sep 2009: PIPER PA-18 — JEFFREY W. CROLL

No fatalities • Fairbanks, AK, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s decision to land on unsuitable terrain, which resulted in a loss of control and a collision with trees.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot reported he was landing his tailwheel-equipped airplane on a soft, rough and uneven gravel runway at the conclusion of a local personal flight operated under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. He said immediately upon touchdown, the airplane veered to the right, and the right wing struck trees, which pivoted the airplane 180 degrees to the right. The left wing struck the ground and sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane. In his written report to the NTSB the pilot noted that the accident might have been avoided if he had landed on the first part of the airstrip where the runway was wider.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • Contributed to outcome
  • Contributed to outcome
  • cause Decision related to condition
  • cause Performance/control parameters — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.