Primary finding
Probable cause
the pilot's selection of an unsuitable area for landing. A factor associated with the accident was the rough and uneven terrain.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
The pilot landed the ski-equipped airplane on a rough and uneven frozen lake, and the left main landing gear collapsed. Inspection showed that the gear failure was consistent with overload forces.
Source record
Factual narrative
On March 4, 1996, about 1700 Alaska standard time, a ski equipped Cessna 185F airplane, N5246E, sustained substantial damage while landing on a frozen lake located about 52 miles west of Skwentna, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot and two passengers aboard were not injured. The 14 CFR Part 135 on-demand air taxi flight was operated by Talkeetna Air Taxi in visual meteorological conditions. The flight last departed Skwentna, Alaska, at 1630. The pilot reported he landed on Puntilla Lake with two passengers. During the landing roll, the airplane's left main landing gear collapsed. The pilot wrote in his report to the NTSB that the landing didn't seem hard enough to break the landing gear. An A&P mechanic with Inspection Authorization (IA), who acts as the Director of Maintenance for Talkeetna Air Taxi, and went to the accident site to perform temporary repairs, reported that the pilot was landing on fairly rough and uneven snow and ice, and that the damage to the left main landing gear is consistent with overload. -