- Date
- December 10, 1987, 21:00 local (Dec 11, 1987, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ambler, AK
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N9979MCessna 207A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report January 11, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19871210070119A
- Case key
- 4943
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 plt of the air taxi cargo flt was operg at night in marginal VFR conds when the acft struck rising terrain. The acft was fnd the next day at aprx 1000 ast, some 15 mi off the intended route. The plt was unconscious & suffering fm hypothermia & other injuries. He was taken to a hospital, but died later that day. An investigation revealed the acft struck the south side of bismark mtn at aprx 2100' MSL while in lvl flt. Another plt, who was flying in the area about 2-1/2 hrs after the acdnt, rprtd that classic white-out conds existed with mod snow fall & ice crystals rdcg fwd vis to less than 1/2 mi. The plt (of N9979M) had been recently hired by bering air & had only about 23 hrs of known flt time in the general area. At the time of employment, he indcd he had aprx 1536 hrs of flt time; however, only 446 hrs of flt time was verified by his logbook & other sources. Min flt time to act as a PIC in the air taxi opn was 500 hrs.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9979M
- Reported as
- Cessna 207A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20700773
- Airframe hours
- 3,343
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-F, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Bering Air, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Bering Air Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 22, 1987 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- Z60 · Kotzebue, AK
- Destination
- SHG · Shungnak, AK
- Flight plan
- 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
- 29
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 446 total · 60 in this make and model · 265 as pilot in command · 85 in the last 90 days · 65 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Temperature
- 10 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.