The pilot was departing in his float-equipped three-seat Piper PA-12 with four souls onboard.
After departure and during the initial climb the right wing hit a tree. The airplane rotated 180° and hit terrain near Palmer, Alaska, sustaining substantial damage to the wings, lift struts, fuselage, and left horizontal stabilizer.
In a conversation with the NTSB investigators shortly after the accident, the pilot provided weights that equated to a gross weight of about 2,011 pounds or 173 pounds over the plane’s approved maximum takeoff gross weight limit.
In the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot reported that the gross weight at the time of the accident was 1,845 pounds or seven pounds over its maximum takeoff gross weight limit.
In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been prevented if he had taken a lighter load or less fuel.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s improper decision to load the airplane beyond its allowable gross weight limits, which resulted in an impact with a tree and collision with terrain.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This June 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
i can think of one word that explains this so called accident…….MORON!
A pair of hunters went moose hunting and chartered a small plane to carry them.
At the end of the day, they had bagged six moose and were about to load them in the plane.
The pilot disagreed with them, saying the plane could only take four safely.
The hunters argued, saying that last year, the pilot had allowed them to carry all six onboard on the same plane.
Reluctantly, the pilot agreed to have all six loaded. But the plane couldn’t make it and crashed.
Climbing out of the wreckage, one hunter turned to the other and asked, “Do you remember this place”?
“Yes”, replied the other. “This is the same place where we crashed last year”.
Some pilots treat their airplane like a dune buggy. Just load ‘er up and we’ll take off!
Three seats and four adults. That is a violation. Perhaps the space taken by people interfered with the controls. The over gross would have increased the stall speeds maybe 10% If the pilot tried to fly book speeds he was too slow.
I always wonder, in cases like this, how long the pilot stood there, looked at his intentionally overloaded plane, filled with people he loved, and still decided “yeah, we’re good to go”.
as the saying goes – there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.
how better to prove it than to overload a plane that is already power challenged?