Primary finding
Probable cause
The pilot-in-command's failure to maintain directional control upon landing.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
Pilot elected to make precautionary landing on beach to determine source of cockpit fumes. Upon landing on beach, adequate directional control was not maintained and the aircraft dragged a wing in the water and nosed over.
Source record
Factual narrative
On July 14, 1993, at approximately 1415 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Taylorcraft TC-19 airplane, N3541T, crashed while attempting a precautionary landing on the beach in Resurrection Bay 15 miles south of Seward, Alaska. The private pilot and the one passenger had departed Merrill Field in Anchorage, Alaska at approximately 1900. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91, in visual meteorological conditions. The occupants were not injured and the airplane sustained substantial damage. No flight plan was filed and no weather briefing was obtained. The pilot, a recent graduate from the US Air Force Academy, said that he "smelled fumes in the cockpit and made a precautionary landing on the beach." He said that during roll out, the left wheel caught in the water and "it dragged me left and turned me over." Both the pilot and the passenger were on a cross-country flight from Colorado Springs, with stops in Northway and Anchorage. Structural damage was limited to the wings and landing gear assembly. -