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Usaf Elmendorf Aero Club Cessna 172 accident

9 May 1992 · RUTH GLACIER, AK, United States

Cessna 172 and Douglas Geeting Aviation Cessna 185 · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
ANC92FA069
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
Charter & commuter
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 · 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
N73813
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), ELMENDORF AFB, AKTo Talkeetna Airport (TKA), Talkeetna, 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
Substantial

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
N1047F
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Talkeetna Airport (TKA), Talkeetna, AKTo Talkeetna Airport (TKA), Talkeetna, 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
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
Minor

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

BOTH AIRPLANES WERE ON SIGHTSEEING FLIGHTS AT ABOUT 9,200 FT MSL. THE PILOT OF THE CE-172, N73813, STATED THAT HE WAS HEADING APRX NORTHWEST, LOOKED AT MT. MCKINLEY, AND AS HE RETURNED HIS GAZE FORWARD HE SAW THE OTHER AIRPLANE AHEAD AND SLIGHTLY HIGHER BEFORE THE COLLISION. THE PILOT OF THE CE-185, N1047F, STATED THAT SHE HAD JUST FINISHED MAKING A RADIO TRANSMISSION INDICATING HER POSITION WHEN SOME OF THE PAX SAW THE OTHER AIRPLANE; SHE ESTIMATED THE OTHER AIRPLANE WAS FLYING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND SLIGHTLY LOWER. THE ALASKA SUPPLEMENT IN EFFECT AT THE TIME OF THE OCCURRENCE STATED THAT FREQUENCY 122.7 IS DESIGNATED FOR INTER AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS IN DENALI PARK, THE AREA IN WHICH MT. MCKINLEY IS LOCATED. THE PILOT OF THE CE-172 WAS NOT AWARE OF THE FREQUENCY. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT OF THE CE-185, THE CE-172 BLENDED IN WITH THE SURROUNDING TERRAIN WHICH CONSISTED OF VERTICAL GRANITE WALLS.

Probable cause

THE FAILURE OF THE PILOTS OF BOTH AIRPLANES TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT OF THE CE-172 TO BECOME AWARE OF AND TO USE THE LISTED FREQUENCY FOR INTER AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS, AND THE REDUCED VISUAL ACUITY OF THE CE-172 AGAINST THE SURROUNDING TERRAIN.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC92FA069
Event ID
20001211X14536
Case number
ANC92FA069
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: 2f2bee4214db14ede5f8c4e05f2cbb43564ae0fbe256a015f42af1e4dfd9a09b; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:46:59.623Z.