ANC95LA139 · Maule MA-4
Maule MA-4 · Accident: in flight collision with object during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Merrill Field (MRI)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC95LA139
- 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
- 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
- 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
Maule MA-4
- Aircraft type
- Maule MA-4
- 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
- N4741T
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Merrill Field (MRI), Anchorage, 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not attained
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT AND A PASSENGER WERE DEPARTING A HUNTING LODGE AIRSTRIP, WHICH WAS LOCATED ON A KNOLL, ABOUT 300 FEET ABOVE THE SURROUNDING TERRAIN. THE AIRSTRIP WAS ABOUT 900 FEET LONG AND SLOPED DOWNHILL ABOUT 2 DEGREES. THE PILOT INDICATED THAT THE WIND WAS BLOWING GENERALLY FROM THE WEST ABOUT 12 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 15 KNOTS, BUT VARIED FROM THE NORTHWEST TO THE SOUTHEAST. THE AIRPLANE WAS 31 POUNDS BELOW ITS MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT. THE PILOT STARTED HIS TAKEOFF ROLL TO THE SOUTH. AT ABOUT 50 MPH OF AIRSPEED, HE ATTEMPTED TO 'ROTATE' THE AIRPLANE FOR TAKEOFF. HE SAID THAT THE AIRPLANE DID NOT ROTATE, BUT TOOK OFF AS IT CONTINUED OFF THE DEPARTURE END OF THE AIRSTRIP. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO GAIN AIRSPEED BY LOWERING THE NOSE OF THE AIRPLANE AS IT DESCENDED TOWARD LOWER TERRAIN. THE AIRPLANE STRUCK SEVERAL TREES ABOUT 200 YARDS FROM THE END OF THE AIRSTRIP. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERED AN UNEXPECTED TAILWIND OR DOWNDRAFT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION AND FAILURE TO ATTAIN SUFFICIENT AIRSPEED TO SUSTAIN A CLIMB BEFORE HITTING TREES. THE UNFAVORABLE WIND CONDITION WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC95LA139
- Event ID
- 20001207X04133
- Case number
- ANC95LA139
- 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 1995-08-15.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 1ed198c10eaa3d9fec3b89b222c84b443ad195b0f400fca18f7d58286992c9ac; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:08:45.278Z.