Piper PA-18 N10572

Summary

On 2 September 2000 at about 16:00 local time, a Piper PA-18 registered N10572 was involved in an accident near McGrath, Alaska, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 September 2000 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

McGrath, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

63.6096, -154.7792

Aircraft

Piper PA-18

Registration

N10572

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Anchorage

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC00LA112

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's inadequate removal of frost from the airplane, and the inadvertent stall during takeoff. A factor was wind gusts.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot told the NTSB investigator during a telephone interview on September 2, that during his preflight he noted frost on the wings and tail section of the airplane. He described removing the frost with a rope, and he believed he had adequately cleaned the lifting surfaces. The pilot said the airplane climbed to between five and ten feet above the off airport gravel bar, and then the right wing stalled. He said the right wing struck the ground and the airplane cartwheeled. The pilot said he believed frost on the airplane's wings caused the stall. The pilot wrote in his NTSB pilot/operator report on September 10, that the winds were gusty at the time of the accident. He wrote that as soon as the airplane lifted off, a gust 'caught the aircraft and forced the right wing down.' The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing, tail assembly, and empennage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.