Alaska Airlines Boeing 727-227 accident
Boeing 727-227 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object during takeoff
From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to Tucson International Airport (TUS)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX90LA116
- 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
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 1
- 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
- Airline
- 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
Boeing 727-227
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- 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
- N271AF
- Operator
- Alaska Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, AZTo Tucson International Airport (TUS), Tucson, AZ
- 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 121: Air Carrier
- 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 · roll/run
- 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
Cause areas
- Object › Other person
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A BOEING 727-227 STRUCK A PEDESTRIAN DURING THE TAKEOFF GROUND RUN ON RUNWAY 26L. THE CAPTAIN INDICATED THAT THE PEDESTRIAN WAS ON THE RUNWAY CENTERLINE DURING THE TAKEOFF GROUND RUN. THE AIRCRAFT HAD ACCELERATED TO ABOUT 105 KNOTS INDICATED AIRSPEED WHEN THE PEDESTRIAN WAS IDENTIFIED. THE CAPTAIN IMMEDIATELY VEERED THE AIRCRAFT TO THE RIGHT TO AVOID THE COLLISION AND ABORTED THE TAKEOFF. THE AIRCRAFT CREW FELT AN IMPACT. THE AIRCRAFT THEN TAXIED TO THE RAMP. POST FLIGHT EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT REVEALED THE PEDESTRIAN WAS STRUCK BY THE LEFT MAIN LANDING GEAR SYSTEM. ACCORDING TO THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY, THE PEDESTRIAN, A 40 YEAR OLD MALE, WAS A MENTAL PATIENT AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL. THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY ALSO INDICATED THAT THE PEDESTRIAN WAS NOT AUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THE RUNWAY. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE BREACH OF AIRPORT SECURITY DID NOT REVEAL HOW THE PEDESTRIAN GAINED ACCESS TO THE RUNWAY ENVIRONMENT.
Probable cause
THE UNAUTHORIZED INTRUSION ONTO THE RUNWAY ENVIRONMENT BY A PEDESTRIAN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX90LA116
- Event ID
- 20001212X22742
- Case number
- LAX90LA116
- 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 1990-03-14.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 33bc44b91d0227e8cabfb20f623a0fa835bba11039203d2d80e3b5da42af13a5; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:03:55.318Z.