- Date
- April 1, 1987, 21:30 local (Apr 2, 1987, 01:30 UTC)
- Place
- Anchorage, AK
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N967JWCessna 402
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 19, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19870401008219A
- Case key
- 4932
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 acft was on the last leg of a scheduled commuter flight, when it crashed in a heavily wooded area while making a VFR approach to merrill field, Anchorage, AK. The capt and his sole passenger were killed in the crash when the airplane struck the ground upside-down in a near vertical attitude. The airplane's copilot, who had deplaned minutes before the accident flight, said he did not see the capt use the aircraft's auxiliary fuel tanks at any time during that evening's earlier flights. The airplane's main fuel tanks hold 100 gallons of useable fuel; it is estimated that the airplane would have consumed slightly more than 100 gallons of fuel at the time of the accident. Ample fuel remained in the auxiliary tanks, but an engine restart cannot be readily accomplished if the auxiliary tanks are not selected prior to the engine's quitting.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N967JW
- Reported as
- Cessna 402
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4020067
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-E, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Wilbur'S Flight Operations
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 10, 1987 · 92 hours before
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- MRI · Merrill, runway 24, 4,000 × 100 ft
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
- 55
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,577 total · 210 in this make and model · 3,400 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 60° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MRI, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.