Piper PA-18-150 N5753Z

Summary

On 8 February 2004 at about 21:45 local time, a Piper PA-18-150 registered N5753Z was involved in an accident near McCall, Idaho, 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

8 February 2004 at 21:45

Classification

Accident

Location

McCall, Idaho, United States

Coordinates

44.9372, -116.1003

Aircraft

Piper PA-18-150

Registration

N5753Z

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

McCall → McCall

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04LA039

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the right rear ski cable and the owner's improper substitution of the right rear ski cable with an unapproved ski cable. A factor was the slushy snow.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On his first touch-and-go the pilot touched down to check snow conditions, and then tried another area doing the same thing. During the second touchdown the pilot noticed the ski breaking through into water/slushy snow. The pilot then initiated a takeoff, and as soon as the airplane was off the surface the rear cable on the right ski broke, resulting in the ski pivoting so that the tip was pointing up. The pilot decided to land in the area where he had checked earlier. After setting up a slow, light touchdown on the lake, the right ski touched down and swiveled 180 degrees resulting in the aircraft nosing over, coming to rest in an inverted position. The outboard leading edge of the left wing was substantially damaged. During the annual inspection the pilot had replaced the right rear cable with a non-approved cable which he had procured from his hardware store.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.