Alaska Air Transit

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX

A Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX, N645AT, overran runway 34 during landing at Anchorage-Merrill Field (MRI), Alaska, USA. The operator reported that to comply with the straight-in arrival procedure at the airport, the pilot was required to make a steeper approach to the runway, and he did not decelerate the airplane to a normal landing speed during the approach. As the approach continued, the airplane passed over the runway threshold faster than anticipated, resulting in an inadvertent, midfield touchdown. After touchdown, the pilot determined that there was not enough runway to safely abort the landing, so he continued the landing roll. He applied reverse thrust and hard braking, but the airplane overran the runway, collided with an airport perimeter fence, crossed six lanes of traffic before coming to rest in an open grass field. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing lift strut. The operator reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Probable Cause: The pilot's decision to continue an unstabilized approach, which resulted in a landing touchdown with insufficient runway remaining and a subsequent runway overrun and a collision with a fence.