NTSB Factual Report

On March 14, 2009, about 1252 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-31-350 airplane, N4112K, sustained substantial damage during landing at the Buckland Airport, Buckland, Alaska. The airplane was operated by Frontier Flying Service, Anchorage, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR), cross-country cargo flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135 when the accident occurred. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a VFR flight plan was filed. The flight departed Kotzebue, Alaska about 1215.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on March 24, the pilot said he had not received any braking action reports about the destination airport, which was unattended. He said he had landed there on the previous day, and that the condition of the runway was acceptable. The pilot said during the accident landing, when he touched down the braking action was nil. He said he realized about 500 feet from the departure end of the runway that stopping was going to be a problem, but he elected not to abort the landing. He said the airplane slid off the end of the runway, and struck a snowbank. The left wing sustained structural damage when it struck the snowbank. The pilot stated there were no known mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. After the accident he examined the runway surface, and determined that it was light snow over ice. He said he believed the sun had melted a layer of snow, which had refrozen into a layer of ice.

The FAA Flight Information Supplement, Alaska, Buckland Airport, under airport remarks, says, in part: "Unattended. Runway condition not monitored, recommend visual inspection prior to landing."

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's failure to abort the landing while landing on a snow/ice-covered runway.