On June 5, 1996, about 1330 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Swearingen SA-26 airplane, N501FS, registered to and operated by FS Air, Anchorage Alaska, sustained substantial damage while landing at the Illinois Creek mining airstrip, located about 80 miles southwest of Galena, Alaska. The solo airline transport certificated pilot was not injured. The 14 CFR Part 135 on-demand cargo flight operated in visual meteorological conditions. According to witnesses, the airplane landed to the south on the dirt airstrip. During the landing roll, the airplane appeared to encounter a soft spot, veered to the left and went off the runway. The nose gear collapsed, and the propellers struck the ground. The left engine partially fragmented, with portions of the engine and/or propellers penetrating the fuselage. Additional damage was noted on the nose gear bulkhead structure. A postcrash fire in the vicinity of the left engine was extinguished by ground crew personnel using hand-held fire extinguisher. The pilot wrote in his statement to the NTSB: "On rollout, I applied power to help assist in taxi to the top of the runway. While taxiing the aircraft, it abruptly veered to the left and went off the runway". The pilot indicated on NTSB form 6120.1/2, Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, that there was no preaccident mechanical malfunction with the airplane.