ANC95LA149 · Cessna 172
Cessna 172 · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Soldotna Airport (SXQ) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC95LA149
- 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
Cessna 172
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N96911
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Soldotna Airport (SXQ), 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 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
- Maneuvering · turn to reverse direction
- 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 › Altitude, inadequate
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THEY WERE LOOKING FOR GAME FOR A FUTURE HUNTING TRIP. AS HE FLEW THE AIRPLANE UP SLOPE, HE OBSERVED THE WIND MOVING THE TREE TOPS. HE ESTIMATED THE WIND AT 15 KNOTS. THE WIND WAS BLOWING OVER A BENCH, A FLAT AREA ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN SLOPE, AND THE PILOT STATED IT CREATED A DOWNDRAFT THAT THE AIRPLANE COULD NOT OUTCLIMB. HE STARTED A TURN TO PROCEED DOWNSLOPE, AND DURING THE TURN, THE STALL WARNING HORN SOUNDED. APPROXIMATELY 3/4 OF THE WAY THROUGH THE TURN, THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A TREE, SLOWED DOWN, AND STRUCK MORE TREES, BEFORE CRASHING INTO ALDER BUSHES.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION, AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE TO ASSURE CLEARANCE FROM OBSTRUCTIONS. THE DOWNDRAFT WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC95LA149
- Event ID
- 20001207X04142
- Case number
- ANC95LA149
- 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 1995-08-24.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 8bf2ef73c2a77a8cbe095de0da3561409c02604b0cffe2ff64cf5cc824ab4028; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:07:52.234Z.