ANC93LA051 · Cessna 170
Cessna 170 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC93LA051
- 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 170
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 170
- 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
- N4190V
- Operator
- Nordgren, Craig D. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ), Kotzebue, 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
- Initial climb
- 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 › Lift-off, premature
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER MAKING A DOWNHILL TAKEOFF, AND JUST AFTER PASSING THE END OF THE RUNWAY, THE SKI EQUIPPED AIRPLANE DESCENDED AND COLLIDED WITH TREES AND A SNOWBANK. THE RUNWAY WAS COVERED WITH ABOUT 12 INCHES OF SLUSHY WET SNOW. THE 57 HOUR PRIVATE PILOT SAID THAT THE AIRPLANES TAIL WHEEL (NOT EQUIPPED WITH A SKI) DRAGGING IN THE SNOW KEPT THE AIRPLANE FROM GETTING AIRBORNE SOONER. AFTER HE GOT THE TAIL OUT OF THE SNOW, HE ATTEMPTED TO ROTATE BEFORE GAINING SUFFICIENT TAKEOFF AIRSPEED, WHICH PUT THE TAIL WHEEL BACK INTO THE SNOW. THE AIRPLANE GOT AIRBORNE ABOUT 3/4 WAY DOWN THE RUNWAY, THEN FLEW IN GROUND EFFECT UNTIL PASSING OVER THE END OF THE RUNWAY AND LOWER TERRAIN. THE PILOT HAD JUST RECENTLY PURCHASED THE AIRPLANE, AND FLEW IT (FOR THE FIRST TIME) FOR 1.8 HOURS WITH A MORE EXPERIENCED PILOT/FRIEND ON THE PREVIOUS DAY. THAT WAS ALSO HIS ONLY TIME AS THE PILOT OF AN AIRPLANE EQUIPPED WITH SKIS OR WITH A TAIL WHEEL.
Probable cause
THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S PREMATURE LIFT-OFF. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ABORT THE TAKEOFF, HIS LACK OF TOTAL EXPEREINCE IN THE TYPE AIRPLANE AND TYPE OPERATION, AND THE SLUSH COVERED RUNWAY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC93LA051
- Event ID
- 20001211X12055
- Case number
- ANC93LA051
- 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: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 66e7bf7fd82eab3613956866ddf7532cff6c8621d21edd494faec980a6096d0d; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:13:23.311Z.