Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Thursday, September 15, 2011 in Beluga, AK
Probable Cause Approval Date: 05/21/2012
Aircraft: CESSNA U206G, registration: N1779R
Injuries: 3 Uninjured.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The pilot of the on-demand passenger flight was taking off from a lake in a float-equipped, single-engine airplane. During takeoff/initial climb, the engine lost all power. There was no suitable place to land, and the pilot concentrated on landing the airplane straight ahead, as slow as possible. During the subsequent emergency landing, the airplane collided with terrain in a boggy area, sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. The pilot said that, prior to takeoff, the airplane had been in a left step turn and that the left fuel tank had been selected for the takeoff. After the airplane was recovered, with the engine still attached to the fuselage, a new propeller installed, and a clean fuel supply provided, the engine was test run. The engine was run at varying rpms, and a magneto check was completed. No engine anomalies were found.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The total loss of engine power for an undetermined reason.
On September 15, 2011, about 1230 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna U206G airplane, N1779R, sustained substantial damage when it collided with terrain, following a loss of engine power during takeoff initial climb, about 33 miles northwest of Beluga, Alaska. The airplane was operated by Regal Air, Anchorage, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) passenger flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal regulations Part 135, when the accident occurred. The airline transport pilot and the two passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight was bound for Anchorage.
In a written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) dated September 16, the pilot reported that after crossing the departure end of the lake, about 200 feet above ground level, the airplane's engine sputtered and died. He said he concentrated on landing the airplane straight ahead, as slow as possible. The airplane collided with terrain in a boggy area, sustaining substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing.
During a telephone conversation with the IIC on September 17, the pilot said prior to takeoff the airplane had been in a left step turn, and that the left fuel tank had been selected for takeoff.
The airplane was recovered to an aviation repair facility near Wasilla, Alaska, and on October 7, with the engine still attached to the fuselage, a new propeller installed, and a clean fuel supply provided, the engine was test run. The engine was run at varying rpm, and a magneto check was completed. No engine anomalies were found.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A pilot managed to put a small plane into some alder bushes after it lost power soon after takeoff from a remote Alaska lake in a maneuver that one investigator said takes "nerves of steel."
The Cessna 206 float plane took off shortly after noon Thursday from Judd Lake about 50 miles northwest of Anchorage. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator says the plane lost power about a minute after takeoff and the pilot had no other option but to put it down in some trees.
No one was hurt but the plane was heavily damaged.
Regal Air owner Mike Laughlin says the pilot and passengers walked about 200 feet to the water where another plane picked them up. He says everyone was OK. The pilot wasn't identified.
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