North Pacific Airlines Beech 65-A80 accident
Beech 65-A80 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach
From Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) to Soldotna Airport (SXQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA85AA012
- 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
- 9 · 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Beech 65-A80
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 65
- 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
- N50NP
- Operator
- North Pacific Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), Anchorage, AKTo Soldotna Airport (SXQ)
- 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
- Approach
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Minimum descent altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Missed approach, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING ARRIVAL, THE CREW OF NPA FLT 1802 CONTACTED THE COMPANY WX OBSERVER AT SOLDOTNA WHO ADVISED THE WX WAS: WND CALM,CEILING 600 TO 800 FT, VIS 8 TO 10 MI, NO PRECIP. THEY MADE AN NDB APCH, BUT MISSED THE APCH & REQUESTED ANOTHER APCH. APRX 1 MIN LATER, THE CREW REPORTED THE ACFT HAD ACCUMULATED A HVY LOAD OF ICE. THEY COULD HAVE DIVERTED NEARBY TO KENAIFOR AN ILS APCH, BUT ELECTED TO MAKE A VOR APCH BACK TO SOLDOTNA. WHILE BEING VECTORED, THEY MADE 2 MORE CHECKS WITH THEWX OBSERVER WHO ADVISED THE WX HAD DETERIORATED TO BELOW MINS & RECOMMENDED DIVERTING, BUT THE CREW DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE.SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES ON HI TERRAIN APRX 1.5 MI SE OF THE ARPT. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE ACFT WAS CIRCLING WHEN IT CRASHED. CIRCLING WAS NOT AUTHORIZED SOUTH OF RWY 7/25. INV REVEALED RECURRING PRBLMS WITH THE ANTI-ICESYS, ITS 'SINGLE' MODE WAS INOP, 2 DE-ICE BOOTS WERE MISSING FM PROP BLADES. WX STATION LISTED ONLY 1 LGTD MARKER (1/4 MI AWAY) FOR VIS REF; MIN LNDG VIS WAS 1 MI; CEILOMETER WAS INOP. NO FAA INSPN OF WX STATION IN 2 YRS. ICG FORCASTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA85AA012
- Event ID
- 20001214X35670
- Case number
- DCA85AA012
- 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: 7b6101fd4dd0178f34f143866b0346da39911834110ec6ded46fe4d3d94167be; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:26:44.475Z.