Cessna 172L N7136Q

Summary

On 18 July 2009 at about 06:00 local time, a Cessna 172L registered N7136Q, operated by Smokey Bay AIr, was involved in an accident near Anchorage, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 July 2009 at 06:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Lake Hood Strip (Z41)

Coordinates

61.1894, -149.9653

Aircraft

Cessna 172L

Registration

N7136Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Smokey Bay AIr

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Homer → Anchorage

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC09LA069

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's unfamiliarity with the airport environment, which resulted in his taxiing the airplane onto a no-taxi section of roadway and into a road sign. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to avail himself of additional information that described the appropriate taxi routes on the airport.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot said that after landing he was attempting to taxi to another nearby airport to park and was confused by the taxi instructions given by the airport ground controller. He inadvertently taxied onto a roadway and that the setting sun, which was in his eyes, caused him not to see a warning sign on the right side of the roadway; the airplane's right wing then struck the sign. The pilot had exited the runway's parallel taxiway at midfield onto an airplane parking and fueling area. He taxied to a road transiting the parking area, and turned northwest on the road. The road narrowed at the boundary of the parking area and the pilot passed a "No Taxi" sign located on the left side of the road. The route from the runway to parking is along nonmovement areas, and progressive taxi instructions were thus not available. An interactive airport web site with detailed parking information and taxi diagrams was available on the internet. The appropriate route was to proceed west on the parallel taxiway to the taxilane which crosses the road taken by the pilot. The sign the airplane hit had flashing amber lights and warned of the taxilane crossing. A review of the published Federal Aviation Administration Alaska airports supplement for taxi instructions at the airport revealed the "taxiway is a joint use taxi/road and is used by motor vehicles/bicycles/joggers and tour buses."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.