Piper 18 N345BG

Summary

On 16 September 1982 at about 16:45 local time, a Piper 18 registered N345BG, operated by Donald Gallaham, was involved in an accident near Kotzebue, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

16 September 1982 at 16:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Kotzebue, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Piper 18

Registration

N345BG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Donald Gallaham

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kotzebue → Kotzebue

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC82DAA16

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A TAKEOFF FROM A ROUGH DIRT STRIP APPROXIMATELY 1000 FEET IN LENGTH. THE WIND WAS BLOWING FROM THE EAST AND THE TAKEOFF WAS TO THE SOUTHWEST DUE TO THE DOWNHILL SLOPE OF THE RUNWAY. THE AIRCRAFT LIFTED OFF AT AN UNKNOWN AIRSPEED APPROXIMATELY 3/4 OF THE WAY DOWN THE RUNWAY. THE AIRCRAFT SETTLED BACK TO THE GROUND AND STRUCK TREES AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY AND WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED FROM IMPACT WITH THE TREES. SHORTLY AFTER THE ACCIDENT, THE PILOT BECAME ANGRY AND HAD MISGIVINGS ABOUT REBUILDING THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT DOUSED THE AIRCRAFT WITH ALCOHOL AND SET IT ON FIRE, DESTROYING THE REMAINS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.