Cessna 180A N8TL

Summary

On 5 August 1999 at about 21:48 local time, a Cessna 180A registered N8TL was involved in an accident near Kenai, 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

5 August 1999 at 21:48

Classification

Accident

Location

Kenai, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

60.6605, -150.9003

Aircraft

Cessna 180A

Registration

N8TL

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Anchorage → Chikuminuk Lake

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC99FA106

2 people died.

The pilot's intentional visual flight into known adverse weather. Factors associated with this accident were the reported low ceilings, obscuration, high winds, and turbulence.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was attempting to transit a 20 mile long mountainous pass. He had delayed his flight three times the day of the accident. Pilot weather reports (PIREPS) from pilots who had flown through the pass indicated the weather deteriorated about one mile west of the accident site to 700 feet overcast ceilings and 1 mile visibility. The PIREPS described rain, mist, and winds from the east of 25 knots, gusting to 40 knots. The airplane impacted a tree on a small ridge on the side of the valley at 950 feet msl, and came to rest 380 linear feet away, at an altitude of 700 feet msl. The final flight path was on a ground track of 060 degrees magnetic, back toward the eastern entrance to the pass. The NTSB investigator-in-charge interviewed four pilots who successfully transited the pass during the time period surrounding the accident. All four indicated that at 950 feet msl, the accident airplane would have been at or into the bases of the overcast. All four also indicated they flew through the pass between 300 and 800 feet in order to maintain visual contact with the terrain. Postaccident inspection of the airplane disclosed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.