25 Jun 2014: PIPER PA 18 — Gracious House Flying Service

25 Jun 2014: PIPER PA 18 — Gracious House Flying Service

No fatalities • Cantwell, AK, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's encounter with a wind gust during takeoff from a short gravel bar, which resulted in the airplane settling after rotation and striking obstacles.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The pilot was taking off from a gravel bar in a tailwheel-equipped airplane with a load of light, bulky cargo items. The gravel bar was in a valley location surrounded by mountainous terrain. He said that the wind indicators along the strip favored the takeoff direction, which was the same direction he had used for landing earlier. He stated that all felt normal during the takeoff roll, but the airplane encountered "a gust from behind or above" upon rotation. The airplane subsequently settled back to the surface and struck brush near the end of strip, turned, and came to a stop across a small ditch. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and the aft section of the fuselage. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that, right after the accident, he observed that the wind became very gusty to about 20 mph. He noted that the wind condition returned to light and variable in less than an hour.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • Contributed to outcome

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 3sm

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.