- Date
- January 24, 2026, 20:00 local (Jan 25, 2026, 05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6333GCessna 150K
- Defining event
- Landing: Wrong surface or wrong airport
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20260124000129A
- Case key
- 202336
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
The flight instructor’s unintentional selection of the wrong, snow-covered landing surface, which resulted in a nose-over.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The flight instructor and the student pilot had been conducting night landing practice at a secondary airport. The flight instructor reported that during the return leg of the flight, while on approach to land at their home airport, he took control of the airplane from the student pilot. The flight instructor subsequently lost situational awareness and inadvertently aligned the airplane with a snow covered waterway instead of the intended runway. The airplane touched down on the snow and nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the wings, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6333G
- Reported as
- Cessna 150K
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15071833
- Built
- 1970
- Airframe hours
- 3,210
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 9, 2025 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- UUO · Willow, AK
- Destination
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Airport
- LHD · Lake Hood Seaplane Base, runway West, 4,541 × 188 ft, snow
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS, Stall warning system
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 21
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 27, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 2,041 total · 41 in this make and model · 1,922 as pilot in command · 8 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 60
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 40 total · 40 in this make and model · 8 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 50° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Temperature
- 16 °F, dew point 12 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- ALH
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 25, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.7 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.