Healy, AK, USA
N6478V
HELIO H-295
The airline transport pilot was on an on-demand air taxi passenger flight in a ski-equipped airplane. The pilot said that the accident occurred while he was packing snow at the landing site by laying down tracks with the airplane's skis in preparation for landing. During the last pass, he said that as the airplane lifted off the snow, the wings encountered high brush; when he pulled back on the elevator control to clear the brush, he said that he believed that the tail ski contacted the snow and dragged the airplane down into the brush. The pilot said that there were no known mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. The fuselage and empennage sustained structural damage during the encounter with brush and terrain.
On March 13, 2009, about 1600 Alaska daylight time, a ski-equipped Helio H-295 airplane, N6478V, sustained substantial damage when it impacted terrain while laying down tracks to pack snow on the snow-covered terrain prior to landing, at the Stampede airstrip, about 42 miles west of Healy, Alaska. The airplane was operated by Wright Air Service, Inc., Fairbanks, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR), on-demand passenger flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135, when the accident occurred. The airline transport pilot and two passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a VFR flight plan was filed. The flight departed Fairbanks, Alaska, about 1510. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on March 14, the pilot said he was laying down tracks with the airplane's ski's to pack the snow on the airstrip prior to landing. He said when the airplane lifted off the snow, the wings encountered high brush, and he pulled back on the elevator control to clear the brush. He said as he did so, he believed the tail ski contacted the snow and dragged the airplane down into the brush. The pilot said there were no known mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. The fuselage and empennage sustained structural damage during the encounter with brush and terrain.
The pilot's delay in initiating a climb while he was packing snow with the airplane's skis in preparation for landing, resulting in a collision with brush.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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