Cessna 207 N42472

Summary

On 20 September 2000 at about 14:15 local time, a Cessna 207 registered N42472 was involved in an accident near Aniak, Alaska, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 September 2000 at 14:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Aniak, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Forty Seven Mile Creek

Coordinates

61.0403, -157.1730

Aircraft

Cessna 207

Registration

N42472

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

47 Mile Creek → Aniak

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Light

Not Reported

NTSB number

ANC00FA128

1 person died.

The pilot's decision to initiate visual flight into dark night instrument meteorological conditions. Factors associated with the accident are a low ceiling, a dark night, the pilot's failure to follow regulatory procedures and directives, and his self-induced pressure to return to base to take another flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The air taxi pilot had flown to a remote airstrip and lodge in a company airplane to go hunting. He was scheduled the next morning for a flight from his company's base of operations, his original departure airport. According to a hunting guide at the lodge, the pilot departed the lodge's airstrip about 0608, with a load of revenue cargo. A few minutes later, the guide heard the sound of an airplane, and then a loud impact. The guide could not see the wreckage because it was too dark outside. He departed in his own airplane, but entered clouds shortly after takeoff, and had to return. The guide commented he thought the accident pilot was trying to return to the lodge airstrip because of the poor weather and darkness. The wreckage was located on a nearby mountain in daylight hours after the cloud cover had dissipated. Postaccident inspection disclosed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies with the airplane. Official sunrise was 0813; official civil twilight was 0730. The time of the accident was approximately 0615.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.