ANC92LA089 · Cessna 172
Cessna 172 and Spernak Airways Cessna 207 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC92LA089
- 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
- N61670
- Operator
- Sigurd E. Colberg · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Merrill Field (MRI)To Big Lake Airport (BGQ), Big Lake, 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
- Taxi · to runway
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 207
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 207
- 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
- N7392U
- Operator
- Spernak Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Merrill Field (MRI)To Arctic Angel Airport (9AK4), TYONEK, 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
- Taxi · to runway
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- 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 › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Anchorage, AK, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE TAXIING ON THE TAXIWAY IN PREPARATION FOR TAKEOFF THE CESSNA 172 COLLIDED WITH A CESSNA 207 WHICH WAS JUST GETTING ONTO THE TAXIWAY FROM ITS COMPANY RAMP. BOTH AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN CLEARED TO TAXI TO THE SAME RUNWAY FOR TAKEOFF. BOTH PILOTS SAID THEY DID NOT SEE EACH OTHER IN TIME TO AVOID THE COLLISION. TWO CONTROL TOWER OPERATORS STATED THAT THE CESSNA 172 WAS TAXIING AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED.
Probable cause
INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOK OUT BY THE PILOT'S OF BOTH AIRCRAFT. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE EXCESSIVE TAXI SPEED BY THE PILOT OF THE CESSNA 172.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC92LA089
- Event ID
- 20001211X14752
- Case number
- ANC92LA089
- 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: 049e38e69c44f40e468644133a396110b8a5c5a8b3ed9f42406c489c1dcdb82e; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:46:28.755Z.