ANC01GA075 · Piper PA-18-150
Piper PA-18-150 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From Koliganek Airport (JZZ) to Iliamna Airport (ILI)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC01GA075
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
- 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
Piper PA-18-150
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-18
- 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
- N7050
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Koliganek Airport (JZZ), Koliganek, AKTo Iliamna Airport (ILI), Iliamna, 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Loss of engine power
- 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
- Fuel starvation; Stall
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Fuel tank selector position, incorrect
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A certificated commercial pilot, an Alaska State Trooper, departed from a remote lake in a float-equipped airplane, as the second airplane in a flight of two airplanes. When the accident airplane failed to arrive at the intended destination, the first pilot initiated an aerial search. The airplane wreckage was discovered about a quarter-mile southeast of the departure lake. The first pilot recalled having a conversation with the accident pilot concerning the use of the Cub Crafters main fuel valve installed in the accident airplane. He said that the accident pilot commented that he was not flying the airplane normally assigned to him, which had the original Piper main fuel tank selector valve installed. The accident pilot told the first pilot that he was unsure if the accident airplane's fuel selector valve should be operated in the BOTH position or the LEFT or RIGHT positions. The FAA approved Cub Crafters STC requires the addition of a placard, placed just above the main fuel valve, which states: "TAKE OFF AND LANDING ON BOTH ONLY." The accident airplane had the placard installed. During an on-scene inspection of the airplane wreckage, the fuel selector valve was found selected to the LEFT fuel tank setting, and the left fuel tank was empty. A review of the State of Alaska, Department of Public Safety's "aircraft manual," which outlines general operating policies and standards, disclosed that there were no provisions for differences training for the Cub Crafters fuel system.
Probable cause
The pilot's selection of the incorrect fuel tank, subsequent fuel starvation, and inadvertent stall during initial climb. Factors associated with the accident were inadequate transition training, and insufficient training standards of the operator/management.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC01GA075
- Event ID
- 20010708X01327
- Case number
- ANC01GA075
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2001-06-26.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 69376a5549120ebb0a4ac32df01a9a8063a549c0dc739f74fc52bcfed67234f8; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:36:13.384Z.