- Date
- August 28, 1990, 12:16 local (20:16 UTC)
- Place
- Sitka, AK
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8180KCessna 414
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19900828037039A
- Case key
- 5306
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
Improper planning/decision by the pilot, and his failure to follow IFR procedures and maintain clearance from mountainous terrain.
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 pilot received a weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan from Sitka to anchorage, Alaska. During takeoff from runway 11 at Sitka, he provided a PIREP to the flight service station, saying that he had entered the cloud bases at 700 ft MSL. While departing, a left turn was made, and the airplane crashed on mount verstovia at the 1420 ft level, approximately 3 miles east of the airport. An on-scene investigation revealed the airplane struck wooded terrain while climbing on a heading of 359 deg. Several tree limbs had been clean cut (by the propellers); wreckage was spread over a 516 ft area. A standard instrument departure (Sitka 5 SID) was available which would have provided terrain clearance with a right turn-out from runway 11 to an initial climb heading of 280 deg.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8180K
- Reported as
- Cessna 414
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4140080
- Airframe hours
- 2,867
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-J, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Stewart Clark Sale
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 20, 1990 · 9 hours before
- Departed
- SIT · Sitka, AK
- Destination
- ANC · Anchorage, AK
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SIT · Sitka, runway 11, 6,500 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,500 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 9 knots
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SIT, 3 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.
Other investigations on N8180K · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.