Piper PA-18-150 N4996V

Summary

On 7 August 1999 at about 14:00 local time, a Piper PA-18-150 registered N4996V was involved in an accident near Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 August 1999 at 14:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

68.1510, -151.7106

Aircraft

Piper PA-18-150

Registration

N4996V

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Happy Valley → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC99FA110

2 people died.

The inadvertent stall/spin by the pilot. A factor was the box canyon into which he had flown.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight had departed a remote hunting camp, about 25 miles north of the accident site, to locate sheep prior to dropping off the passenger. The flight was reported overdue to the Alaska State Troopers, and an aerial search located the wreckage the following day. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the nearest reporting station, 60 miles south of the accident site, at the time of the accident. One of the pilot's employees told the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) the winds at camp were calm, there were some clouds visible to the south, and the tops of the mountains were visible toward the accident site. The airplane struck terrain in a near vertical attitude, and came to rest inverted in the bottom of a box canyon. The empennage was rotated and twisted to the right. A postcrash fire consumed both fuel tanks, and the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no preaccident anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.