At about 13:51 Alaska standard time, a Cessna 172 was damaged while landing at the Bethel Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot told investigators that she had departed the accident airport under a special VFR clearance and encountered severe icing conditions. At that time she elected to return to the Bethel airport. She said that forward visibility was restricted due to heavy ice build-up on the airplanes windscreen, requiring her to do a series of S turns to find the airport. She reported that just prior to touchdown the airplane stalled and the airplane landed hard in a nose low attitude. I just got into icing conditions. Thats what caused it, she said.
Jan. 10, Bethel, Alaska / Cessna 172 Skyhawk
At about 13:51 Alaska standard time, a Cessna 172 was damaged while landing at the Bethel Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot told investigators that she had departed the accident airport under a special VFR clearance and encountered severe icing conditions. At that time she elected to return to the Bethel airport. She said that forward visibility was restricted due to heavy ice build-up on the airplanes windscreen, requiring her to do a series of S turns to find the airport. She reported that just prior to touchdown the airplane stalled and the airplane landed hard in a nose low attitude. I just got into icing conditions. Thats what caused it, she said....
Key Takeaways:
- A Cessna 172 was damaged during a hard, nose-low landing at Bethel Airport, though the pilot was uninjured.
- The pilot reported encountering severe icing conditions shortly after departing under a special VFR clearance, prompting a decision to return to the airport.
- Forward visibility was critically restricted by heavy ice accumulation on the windscreen, forcing the pilot to perform S-turns to locate the airport.
- Just prior to touchdown, the airplane stalled, resulting in a hard landing; the pilot directly attributed the incident to the icing conditions.
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