Alaska Airlines Flight 77
Boeing 737-400 and Cessna 185 · Incident: near collision between aircraft on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC94IA075
- 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
- Incident
- 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
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- 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
- Airline
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Boeing 737-400
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- 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
- N769AS
- Operator
- Alaska Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Gustavus Airport (GST), GUSTAVUS, AKTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern turn to base
- First occurrenceThe 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
- Near collision between aircraft
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 185
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 185
- 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
- N1470Q
- Operator
- Ernest B. Meloche · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Ketchikan International Airport (KTN), Ketchikan, AK
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- 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
- En route · climb to cruise
- First occurrenceThe 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
- Near collision between aircraft
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- None
Cause areas
- Atc personnel(lcl/gnd/clnc) › Traffic advisory, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual separation, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual separation, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
APPROACHING THE AIRPORT, THE FLIGHTCREW OF THE B-737, N769AS, MADE INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE LOCAL CONTROLLER, AND WAS ADVISED OF A LEFT DOWNWIND FOR RUNWAY 26. AT ABOUT 5 MI SW OF THE ARPT, THE FLIGHTCREW WAS ADVISED OF PATTERN TRAFFIC THAT INCLUDED THE DEPARTING C-185, N1470Q, STARTING A LEFT DOWNWIND. THE PILOT OF THE C-185 WAS ALSO ADVISED OF THE B-737 ENTERING DOWNWIND, TO WHICH THE PILOT REPLIED '...ROGER HAVE TRAFFIC IN SIGHT WILL STAY LOW.' THE PILOT WAS NOT INSTRUCTED TO ADJUST HIS FLIGHTPATH TO REMAIN CLEAR OF THE B-737. THE FLIGHTCREW OF THE B-737 SUBSEQUENTLY REPORTED A 'NEAR MISS' TO THE TOWER. THE B-737 FLIGHTCREW AND THE C-185 PILOT ESTIMATED THEIR SEPARATION AS LESS THAN 50 FT, AT APRX 800 FT AGL. THE PILOT OF THE B-737 TOOK 'MAX NOSE UP...' EVASIVE ACTION.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF THE LOCAL CONTROLLER TO EXERCISE HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO HAVE EACH AIRCRAFT ADJUST ITS FLIGHTPATH TO REMAIN CLEAR OF THE OTHER, AND THE FAILURE OF THE THE PILOT OF THE CESSNA 185 TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE VISUAL SEPARATION FROM THE BOEING 737.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC94IA075
- Event ID
- 20001206X01636
- Case number
- ANC94IA075
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
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, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1994-07-02.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6a610840b64990685a6615bb5fe3837d015e2e3a596ac5290b17d484d73ffec9; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:14:00.668Z.