Cessna 182 N5020D

Summary

On 1 July 2018 at about 02:15 local time, a Cessna 182 registered N5020D was involved in an accident near Chugiak, 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

1 July 2018 at 02:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Chugiak, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Birchwood (BCV)

Coordinates

61.4206, -149.5005

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

N5020D

Category

Airplane

Year built

1958

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chugiak → Chugiak

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC18CA052

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's mismanagement of the engine controls due to distraction in the traffic pattern, which resulted in a hard landing short of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, while performing a high-speed taxi to evaluate an erratic airspeed indicator, the airplane began to porpoise, so she performed a takeoff and maneuvered the airplane around the traffic pattern to land. The pilot was distracted by other airplanes in the traffic pattern and did not perform the landing checklist and felt "behind" the airplane. On final approach, she pushed in the throttle control to correct for a rapid descent rate; however, the engine did not respond, and the airplane landed hard in gravel short of the intended runway. The pilot added that, after the impact, she noted that the mixture control was fully out and that she may have pulled out the wrong engine control during the approach. A witness on the ground reported that the airplane descended rapidly in a flat attitude with the propeller rotating slowly. The witness responded to the accident scene and noted that the mixture, throttle, and propeller controls were all pulled out and that the pilot could not explain how that happened, but she did state that she was very distracted while flying in the pattern. The pilot stated that she had not flown for about 8 months and had no intent to fly that day. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.