- Date
- July 3, 2005, 12:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Bethel, AK
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N48CFCessna 207
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 27, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Anchorage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20050703017389A
- Case key
- 62023
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
An in-flight collision with a bird during cruise flight, which resulted in structural damage to the airplane's wing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The solo commercial pilot was in cruise flight at 1,000 feet agl, when he noted a large bird headed towards the airplane. He tried to avoid the collision by turning the airplane to the right, but the bird subsequently struck the left wing of the airplane. A postaccident inspection revealed structural damage to the airplane's left wing spar.
Factual narrative
On July 3, 2005, about 1245 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna 207 airplane, N48CF, sustained structural damage as a result of a bird strike while in cruise flight between Bethel, Alaska, and Nightmute, Alaska. The airplane was being operated by Grant Aviation, Inc., of Emmonak, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) positioning flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, at the time of the accident. The solo commercial pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a company flight plan was in effect.
During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on July 6, the operator's director of operations reported that after departing from Bethel, while in level cruise flight at 1,000 feet agl, the pilot noted a large bird heading towards the airplane. The director of operations said that the pilot tried to avoid the collision by turning the airplane to the right, but the bird subsequently struck the left wing of the airplane. A postaccident inspection revealed structural damage to the airplane's left wing spar.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N48CF
- Reported as
- Cessna 207
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 207-00366
- Engine
- Continental IO-520, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Grant Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- BET · Bethel, AK
- Destination
- AK08 · Nightmute, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 1, 2005
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,500 total · 100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.