NTSB Factual Report

On September 4, 2002, about 0830 Alaska daylight time, an amphibious float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3 airplane, N335AK, sustained substantial damage when it drifted into a wooden piling while taxiing from landing at the Tenakee Springs Seaplane Base, Tenakee Springs, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) scheduled passenger flight under Title 14, CFR Part 135, when the accident occurred. The airplane was operated as Flight 71, by Wings of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot, and the six passengers, were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and VFR company flight following procedures were in effect. The flight originated at the Juneau Seaplane Base at 0810.

During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), on September 5, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness inspector, Juneau Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), reported that the airplane collided with a piling at the Tenakee Springs seaplane dock. The airplane received minor damage to the left wingtip and the pitot tube. The left wing aileron received damage to the trailing edge.

During a telephone conversation with the NTSB IIC on September 6, the president of Wings of Alaska reported that the pilot was taxiing to the seaplane dock after landing. The pilot shut-off the engine as the airplane approached the dock. A tidal current carried the airplane beyond the intended docking area, and the airplane drifted backward into a wooden piling. The operator reported that the left aileron was removed for repair. A 37-inch portion of the aileron trailing edge was replaced.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's misjudgment of the airplane's speed/distance from a dock resulting in the airplane drifting into a wooden piling during a taxi from landing. A factor in the accident was the presence of a tidal current.