| Crash location | 54.473334°N, 164.830000°W
Reported location is a long distance from the NTSB's reported nearest city. This often means that the location has a typo, or is incorrect. |
| Nearest city | Cold Bay, AK
55.185833°N, 162.721111°W 97.3 miles away |
| Tail number | N798 |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 24 Jul 2015 |
| Aircraft type | Found Acft Canada Inc Fba 2C1 |
| Additional details: | None |
On July 24, 2015, about 1300 Alaska daylight time, a tailwheel-equipped Found Aircraft Canada, Inc., FBA-2C1 airplane, N798, sustained substantial damage after a loss of control during takeoff from an unimproved airstrip near Sennett Point, Unimak Island, Alaska. The certificated commercial pilot and two passengers sustained no injuries. The airplane was registered to the United States Department of the Interior, and operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a public aircraft operations flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan was filed and activated.
During an interview with a Department of the Interior, Senior Air Safety Investigator, the pilot stated that the selected airstrip consisted of a dogleg of about 150 feet, followed by about a 25-degree right turn for an additional takeoff area of about 1,000 feet, totaling about 1,150 feet of available takeoff distance. About 100 feet after making the required turn, the pilot realized he had not made enough correction to the right to get lined up with the straight portion of the takeoff area and was drifting left. The airplane became airborne after contacting a berm about 5 feet in height, entered an aerodynamic stall, impacted the tundra in a left wing down attitude, bounced, and came to rest about 180 degrees from the takeoff heading.
The closest weather reporting facility is Cold Bay Airport, Cold Bay, Alaska, approximately 85 miles northeast of the accident site. At 1253, an aviation routine weather report (METAR) from the Cold Bay Airport was reporting in part: wind from 160 degrees at 7 knots; sky condition few at 500 feet agl, broken at 1,000 feet agl; visibility 10 statute miles; temperature 55 degrees F; dew point 54 degrees F; barometric pressure 29.91 inHg.
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate distance from surrounding terrain during the takeoff sequence, which resulted in the airplane contacting the terrain, prematurely becoming airborne, and subsequently entering an aerodynamic stall.