Primary finding
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from terrain while maneuvering at low altitude.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The pilot reported that he was flying low-level over various remote gravel bars looking for a suitable one to land on. During a low pass over a gravel bar, the airplane’s tailwheel impacted an area of rough, uneven terrain, which pivoted the nose of the airplane down, resulting in a hard, inadvertent landing. The main landing gear wheels subsequently impacted a 3 ft high gravel berm, and the main landing gear collapsed resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing lift struts. A postaccident examination of the landing gear by the NTSB investigator-in-charge revealed all fractures in the landing gear were from overload forces from the hard landing.