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ANC24LA048 · Stinson 108-2

31 May 2024 · Bethel, AK, United States

Stinson 108-2 · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) during landing

From Wasilla, AK to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
ANC24LA048
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
Event fatalities
Unknown
Ground fatalities
Unknown
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
General aviation
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

Stinson 108-2

Aircraft type
Stinson 108
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
N299C
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Wasilla, AKTo not recorded
Aircraft age
About 77 years (built 1947)
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 91: General Aviation
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
Landing · landing roll
Defining eventThe 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
System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
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

  • Aircraft › Aircraft systems
  • Personnel issues › Action/decision
  • Personnel issues › Task performance

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The uncertificated pilot reported that while on a cross-country flight in his tailwheel-equipped airplane, he stopped along the way for fuel, and during that landing, he noticed that the right main landing gear felt “mushy.” However, he elected to depart and continue the flight to the destination airport. While landing on the dry, paved runway, which required a correction for strong, gusting crosswind conditions, the left main landing gear wheel touched down first, then the right main landing gear wheel touched down. The pilot said as the weight of the airplane transferred to the right main landing gear, the right oleo strut “mushed out.” The airplane subsequently ground looped to the left, and the right main landing gear collapsed. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage. The pilot reported that before leaving on the accident flight, he had observed red fluid leaking from the right landing gear oleo strut assembly, and that the airplane had not flown for most of the year. A review of maintenance records revealed the last annual inspection of the airplane was nine years prior to the accident. According to FAA records, the pilot did not possess a pilot’s certificate. Other than the leaking oleo strut, the pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Probable cause

The uncertificated pilot’s decision to fly an unairworthy airplane and his failure to maintain directional control during landing, which resulted in a landing gear collapse. Contributing was the failure of the right main landing gear oleo strut.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC24LA048
Event ID
20240611194438
Case number
ANC24LA048
Dataset
full-current
Source SHA-256
5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
  • 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2024-06-01.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 41ff0e649f35fa8a510be1adb45812c1be689ee9362c48e4589ad2a60ca1c65a; retrieved 2026-09-16T18:52:36.925Z.