ANC06FA048 · Cessna 170B
Cessna 170B and Cessna 172 · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC06FA048
- 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
- 5 · 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
- General aviation
- 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 170B
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 170
- 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
- N4488B
- Operator
- David M. Beauregard · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Birchwood Airport (PABV), Chugiak, AKTo Talkeetna Airport (PATK), 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
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · 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
- N5049A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Birchwood Airport (PABV), Chugiak, AKTo not recorded
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Two airplanes, a Cessna 172, and a Cessna 170B, collided in mid air during cruise flight in day visual flight rules meteorological conditions. The 172, piloted by a solo commercial pilot, was traveling in a west-southwest direction. The 170B, with an airline transport certificated pilot and three passengers, was flying northbound, at an estimated altitude between 1,500 and 2,000 feet. A pilot-rated ground witness said he saw the two airplanes collide. He stated that as the Cessna 172 approached the Cessna 170B's right side, and as their flight paths converged, he heard the 172's engine power increase, and then saw the airplane pitch-up sharply. He said the two airplanes then collided, with the 170B striking the left side of the 172. Both airplanes became momentarily entwined, and then fell vertically to the ground. An examination of the wreckage disclosed impact signatures consistent with the witness's statement, with the 170B displaying black tire rubber deposits on portions of the white paint that covered the left lift strut. Traces of black, tire material were also discovered on portions of the 170B's propeller assembly. The Cessna 172's left main tire and inner tube were slashed longitudinally, consistent with a propeller strike, through to the aluminum wheel hub assembly. No radar coverage existed for the air space near the accident site, and neither pilot was in communication with any air traffic control facility. Toxicological samples were submitted from both pilots, and both tested negative for alcohol or drugs.
Probable cause
The inadequate visual lookout by the pilots of both airplanes during cruise flight, which resulted in their failure to see-and-avoid each other, and a subsequent midair collision.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC06FA048
- Event ID
- 20060427X00489
- Case number
- ANC06FA048
- 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, coordinates. 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: d8cd520ae1343b7f11acc7b4e1a620a302cc95b6131e535065ac973c2a7b8681; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:23:42.151Z.