Cessna 172 N35408

Summary

On 20 August 2016 at about 20:00 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N35408 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

20 August 2016 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Elmendorf Afb (EDF)

Coordinates

61.2508, -149.8094

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N35408

Category

Airplane

Year built

2001

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Anchorage → Anchorage

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA16CA442

Nobody was injured.

The facility's designation of the taxiway for use by maintenance personnel to conduct high thrust tests without appropriate safeguards in place, which led to maintenance personnel conducting high-power, run-up thrust procedures across the active taxiway and resulted in the loss of directional control of a light, single-engine airplane on the taxiway when it encountered a sudden, unexpected blast of engine thrust.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor of a light single-engine airplane reported that while he and the student pilot were on a taxiway under air traffic control (ATC) instruction, the airplane encountered prop wash, originating from a larger (four engine) turbine-powered airplane performing a maintenance engine(s) run-up. The maintenance run-up was performed in a location adjacent to the active taxiway that was authorized for parking as well as 80% engine(s) power run-ups. The larger turbine-powered airplane was the third in a row a five, of like model airplanes being parked at the location. The light single-engine airplane was not on frequency when the larger turbine-powered airplane was given the clearance, and was not told by ATC at any time during their taxi of the larger turbine-powered airplane's intentions. Subsequently, the light single-engine airplane was blown approximately 80 feet from its original location while taxing behind the larger turbine-powered airplane, which resulted in substantial damage to the firewall. The flight instructor reported that there were no pre impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. As a safety recommendation the flight instructor stated that the incident could have been prevented with better communications between the tower controllers and the larger turbine-powered airplane's ground personnel.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.