PenAir Piper PA-31-350 accident
Piper PA-31-350 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water during initial climb
From Toksook Bay Airport (OOK) to Dillingham Airport (DLG)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC95LA050
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-31-350
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N3588Z
- Operator
- PenAir
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Toksook Bay Airport (OOK), TOKSOOK, AKTo Dillingham Airport (DLG)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS DISPATCHED TO A REMOTE GRAVEL AIRSTRIP AT TOKSOOK TO PICK UP AN UNDETERMINED NUMBER OF PASSENGERS. UPON ARRIVAL THE PILOT LOADED THE AIRPLANE WITH 5 PASSENGERS. HE ELECTED TO TAKE OFF TO THE NORTH TO AVOID A REPORTED SOFT SPOT AT THE SOUTH END OF THE RUNWAY. THE 1,800-FT RUNWAY SLOPES UPHILL TO THE NORTH WITH A GRADIENT OF APPROX 2%. DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL, THE AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERED A SOFT SPOT AND DECELERATED. THE PILOT CONTINUED THE TAKEOFF, AND THE AIRPLANE'S RIGHT MAIN TIRE STRUCK A SNOW BERM SHORTLY AFTER PASSING OVER THE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE RIGHT MAIN TIRE AND GEAR STRUT SEPARATED FROM THE LANDING GEAR. THE FLIGHT CONTINUED TO DILLINGHAM AND A GEAR UP LANDING WAS MADE. THE PILOT HAD ESTIMATED THE AIRPLANE'S TAKEOFF WEIGHT AT 6,200 POUNDS. AN FAA INSPECTOR REVIEWED THE FLIGHT'S WEIGHT AND BALANCE DATA AND COMPUTED ITS WEIGHT AT 6,576 POUNDS. AT THIS WEIGHT, THE AIRPLANE'S FLIGHT MANUAL INDICATES THAT THE AIRPLANE REQUIRES 2,200 FT FOR TAKEOFF FROM A LEVEL, HARD SURFACED RUNWAY, AND 2,100 FT WHEN LOADED TO 6,200 POUNDS. THE FLIGHT MANUAL HAS NO PROVISIONS FOR DETERMINING ADDITIONAL RUNWAY NEEDED FOR TAKEOFF FROM A SOFT, UPHILL RUNWAY.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING AND PREPARATION. FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACCIDENT ARE: THE DISPATCHER'S DECISION TO DISPATCH A MULTI-ENGINED AIRPLANE TO A SHORT, SOFT AIRSTRIP, AND INADEQUATE COMPANY MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT/SURVEILLANCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC95LA050
- Event ID
- 20001207X03394
- Case number
- ANC95LA050
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 32a51c73d63a9c14e626ac1a5573295df32a2b580273e2baf7a1827103390ad7; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:01:06.931Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N3588Z; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.