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ANC95FA078 · de Havilland DHC-2

20 Jun 1995 · NONDALTON, AK, United States

de Havilland DHC-2 and Piper PA-12 · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
ANC95FA078
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
Accident
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
5 · 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
General aviation
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 · de Havilland DHC-2

Aircraft type
de Havilland DHC-2
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
N1348
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From KUKAKLEK LAKE, AKTo PORT ALSWORTH, 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 · 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
Midair collision
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Aircraft 2 · Piper PA-12

Aircraft type
Piper PA-12
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
N7832H
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Lake Hood Seaplane Base (LHD), Anchorage, AKTo Iliamna Airport (ILI), ILIAMNA, 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 · 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
Midair collision
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE CERTIFICATED AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT OF N1348 AND 3 PASSENGERS WERE NORTHWEST BOUND AT 200 FEET OVER A REMOTE RIVER. THE BUSINESS FLIGHT WAS EN ROUTE TO A FISHING LODGE AFTER PICKING UP LODGE CLIENTS FROM A REMOTE LAKE. THE CERTIFICATED COMMERCIAL PILOT AND SOLE OCCUPANT OF N7832H WAS SOUTHBOUND AT 200 FEET OVER THE SAME AREA OF THE RIVER. WITNESSES OBSERVED THE TWO AIRPLANES COLLIDE AND DESCEND INTO THE RIVER. THE WITNESSES DID NOT OBSERVE EITHER AIRPLANE TAKE EVASIVE ACTION. THE WEATHER CONDITIONS WERE REPORTED AS SCATTERED CLOUDS AT 3,500 FEET AND A VISIBILITY OF 25 MILES.

Probable cause

THE FAILURE OF BOTH PILOTS TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC95FA078
Event ID
20001207X03574
Case number
ANC95FA078
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. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1995-06-21.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 021da0a2917a69723dc268a07b2d1f55fbe6b32c5b39f643805f91f83960c780; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:44:01.767Z.