Kusko Aviation Piper PA-32-260 accident
Piper PA-32-260 · Accident: loss of control in flight during takeoff
From Eek Airport (EEK) to Tuntutuliak Airport (WTL)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC90LA014
- 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-32-260
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N5511J
- Operator
- Kusko Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eek Airport (EEK)To Tuntutuliak Airport (WTL), TUNTUTALICK, AK
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/mush
- 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
- Wing › Ice
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT WAS TAKING OFF FROM A 1300' GRAVEL RWY THAT HAD BEEN CLEARED OF SNOW. HE RPRTD THE ACFT HAD VERY GOOD ACCELERATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TAKEOFF ROLL, BUT THEN IT SEEMED TO HOLD, INSTEAD OF ACCELERATING FURTHER. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE ACFT LIFTED OFF, THEN SETTLED & TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 45 YDS BEYOND THE END OF THE RWY. IT CONTACTED UNEVEN TERRAIN WHICH FAILED THE RIGHT MAIN LANDING GEAR. THE ACFT THEN SLID TO A STOP ON A FROZEN LAKE WITH PROP & WING DAMAGE. ABOUT 30 MIN LATER, AN EXAM OF THE ACFT REVEALED 'MINIMUM ICING' ON THE WINGS. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT WAS FOUND DRG THE POST-ACDNT EXAM.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PLANNING/PREPARATION AND HIS FAILURE TO ASSURE THE REMOVAL OF ICE OR FROST FROM THE WINGS. THE EXCESS GROSS WEIGHT AND UNEVEN TERRAIN WERE CONSIDERED TO BE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC90LA014
- Event ID
- 20001213X29728
- Case number
- ANC90LA014
- 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: 8332b829ebeda5c3db1c54b9673048425dfd5d3c5281d041d8c8790ac3453b4d; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:06:46.308Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N5511J; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.