# NTSB ANC95FA056: Cessna 150, N9GZ, Wasilla, AK, May 21, 1995 - Type: NTSB accident investigation - Classification: Accident · Fatal · Field investigation · Final report - Date: May 21, 1995, 12:30 local (20:30 UTC) - Place: Wasilla, AK - Location: 61.5785° N, 149.4763° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs: center of Wasilla, AK, within about 6 miles (OpenAirDocs) - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=61.5785&lon=-149.4763&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Enroute](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/400) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Highest injury: Fatal - Injuries: 1 fatal - Status: Completed, report January 29, 1996 - Report: Approved by Office Director - NTSB office: Alaska Regional Office - NTSB case key (mKey): 2581 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=ANC95FA056 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/2581/pdf - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/ANC95FA056 ## Probable cause THE STUDENT PILOT'S INADVERTENT VFR FLIGHT INTO INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS (IMC) AND FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CLEARANCE (OR ALTITUDE) FROM THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. ## Sequence of events In NTSB's coding before 2008 (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). - In flight encounter with weather, cruise - terrain condition - high terrain - weather condition - clouds - weather condition - low ceiling - vfr flight into imc - inadvertent, pilot in command (cause) - In flight collision with terrain/water, cruise - terrain condition - mountainous/hilly - altitude/clearance - not maintained, pilot in command (cause) ## Analysis THE STUDENT WAS ON THE SECOND LEG OF A SOLO CROSS COUNTRY FLIGHT. THE FLIGHT PLANNED COURSE WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE FLIGHT THROUGH AN AREA OF WIDE VALLEYS. HOWEVER, THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND 17 MILES EAST OF THE FLIGHT PLANNED COURSE AT THE 3000' LEVEL OF A MOUNTAIN. THE WEATHER IN THE VICINITY OF THE FLIGHT PLANNED COURSE DURING THE TIME OF THE FLIGHT WAS HIGH OVERCAST. IN THE VICINITY OF WHERE THE WRECKAGE WAS LOCATED, THE MOUNTAIN TOPS AND UPPER RIDGES SURROUNDING THE VALLEYS WERE OBSCURED BY CLOUDS. ## Factual narrative HISTORY OF FLIGHT On May 21, 1995, about 1230 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 150 airplane, N9GZ, registered to Alaska Aircraft Sales of Anchorage, Alaska, and operated by Alaska Air Academy for the purpose of flight instruction, crashed into a mountain located 17 miles northeast of the Big Lake VOR (very high frequency omnidirectional range) on the 036 degree radial. The student solo flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed Lake Hood Airstrip, Anchorage, at 0800 on a cross country flight to Homer, Alaska. The pilot returned to Lake Hood, refueled the airplane, and obtained a weather briefing. He departed Lake Hood at 1205 for the second leg of his cross country flight. The destination was Talkeetna, Alaska. A visual flight rules flight plan was filed but not activated. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed throughout the area. The student pilot was fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. According to the owner of Alaska Air Academy, the student pilot had been to Talkeetna at least twice and was familiar with the route. The accident site was approximately 15 miles east of the flight planned course. WITNESSES There are no known witnesses to the accident. INJURIES TO PERSONS The student pilot, the sole occupant, received fatal injuries. DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT The propeller, spinner, and starter ring gear separated from the engine. The engine was pushed upward from its normal location in relation to the cabin top to a 45 degree angle. The nose gear remained attached to the engine mount structure. The main cabin remained intact but was distorted. The ceiling of the cabin was crushed downward and compromised the cabin by 2 to 4 inches. The pilot side of the instrument panel was bent and pushed rearward into the cabin. The rudder pedals and adjacent floorboards were pushed up and rearward. The main landing gear remained attached to the fuselage in their proximate correct position. The empennage was bent toward the left side of the airplane midway between the main cabin and the horizontal stabilizer. The metal in the vicinity of the bend was torn. The horizontal stabilizer and elevators were unremarkable except for small dents. The rudder top was bent and the vertical fin was unremarkable. The right wing remained attached to the cabin roof and the right wing strut remained attached to both the upper and lower attach points. The inboard section of the right wing leading edge was not bent or dented. Outboard of the upper wing strut attach point, the wing was bent slightly rearward and the leading edge was bent and dented for the remaining span. The last 2 feet of the right wingtip was crushed rearward and upward. The right aileron was bent in the middle but remained attached to its hinges. The right flap was not damaged and remained in the retracted position. The left wing remained attached to the cabin roof but was bent rearward at the attach points. The left wing strut remained attached to both the upper and lower attach points. The leading edge of the entire left wing span was bent and crushed and the outboard portion of the leading edge from the landing light location was separated from the wing. The left wing tip was bent upward and the last 18 inches separated from the wing. The outboard 1/3 of the aileron was bent upward and folded over on to itself. The right flap, although not bent, was displaced from its retracted position to approximately 30 degrees extended. PERSONNEL INFORMATION The 48 year old student pilot was endorsed for solo flight in the Cessna 150 airplane on April 1, 1995. His student pilot certificate also showed endorsements for solo cross country flights dated April 29, 1995 and May 21, 1995. The student pilot's records showed he had a total of 31.7 hours of total flight experience, all in the Cessna 150 airplane, and had flown 2.5 hours in the last 24 hours. The records also show that the student pilot did not have any actual instrument flight experience and had received .5 hours of simulated instrument flight time. AIRCRAFT INFORMATION N9GZ was a Cessna 150 airplane and was equipped with a O- 320-E2D engine rated by the manufacturer at 150 horsepower. The engine had a total time of 1833.56 hours and had operated 28.76 hours since its last inspection. METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION There are no weather reporting facilities near the accident site. The nearest weather reporting facility is Palmer, Alaska, located 13 miles east of the accident site. There is an AWOS (automated weather observation station) located at Wasilla Airport, Wasilla, Alaska, which is 12 miles south of the accident site. That facility reported the following weather. Measured ceiling 4,200 overcast, visibility 10 miles, temperature 49 degrees fahrenheit, dew point 39 degrees fahrenheit, wind calm, altimeter setting 30.00 inches of mercury. Weather briefing information, which was given to the pilot during his weather/preflight briefing, was requested from the FAA. Accoridng to the FAA Air Traffic Evaluation Division, the tape equipment which records the preflight briefings was inoperative and did not record the information. As a result, the weather information that the pilot received during the preflight briefing could not be included in the Air Traffic Accident Package. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the area forecast for the Cook Inlet and Susitna Valley was forecast to be 3,000 feet scattered locally broken at Talkeetna and north; 5,000 feet broken, 8,000 feet broken, 11,000 broken, and 12,000 broken elsewhere, with clouds layered to 21,000 feet. The area forecast indicated that the area south of Big River Lakes (located 167 nautical miles from the accident site on a magnetic bearing of 210 degrees) and along the Alaska Mountain Range was forecast to have occasional ceilings below 1,000 feet with a visibility below 3 miles with light rain and fog. This weather was forecast to spread northward by 1800 to Skwentna (located 54 nautical miles from the accident site on a magnetic bearing of 260 degrees). The forecast showed no significant turbulence. The forecast showed areas of scattered moderate rime ice in clouds and in precipitation from 4,000 to 15,000 feet in the Big river Lakes area and along the Alaska Range. This icing was forecast to spread north to Skwentna by 1600 to 1800. Otherwise, the freezing level was 4,000 feet sloping upward to 6,000 feet in the Northern Cook Inlet area and then dropping to 2,000 feet in the vicinity of McKinley Park (located 49 nautical miles from Talkeetna on a magnetic bearing of 305 degrees). The NTSB IIC's (National Transportation Safety Board Investigator in Charge) visual observation of the ridge line, where the airplane crashed, showed that the ridge line was obscured by clouds. The observation was made on May 21, 1995, approximately 1500. The center of the Matanuska/Susitna Valley had high ceilings estimated at 5,000 feet and the visibility was 30 miles. A piece of note paper retrieved from the cockpit of the airplane showed information relating to the Susitna Valley. That information showed "some IFR - fog, turb, ice, gusting to 30." AIDS TO NAVIGATION The route of flight, according to the flight plan, showed that the student pilot intended to departed "Z41" Lake Hood Airstrip, fly to Talkeetna, and return to the Lake Hood Airstrip. According to the Manager of Alaska Air Academy, the student pilot intended to fly from the Lake Hood Airstrip, to Big Lake, and then up the valley to Talkeetna. He stated the student pilot had been to Talkeetna three previous times. Lake Hood Airstrip is co-located with Anchorage International Airport and is serviced by the Anchorage VOR (114.3 Mhz) located 8 miles southwest of Lake Hood on ## Aircraft - Registration: [N9GZ](https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N9GZ-1997-04-02), registration cancelled 1997-04-02, S/N 15070984 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: CESSNA 150 - Registry model: [Cessna 150J](https://openairdocs.org/model/cessna-150j) (registry code 2071820) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 15070984 - Airframe hours: 5412 - Engines: LYCOMING O-320-E2D 150 horsepower reciprocating - Damage: Destroyed - Flight: Instructional, Part 91 - Operator: Alaska Air Academy - Registered owner: Alaska Aircraft Sales - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Last inspection: 100 hour, May 11, 1995, 29 hours before - Departed: Z41, ANCHORAGE, AK - Destination: TKA, TALKEETNA, AK - Flight plan: VFR ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 48; student; medical: class 3, valid medical--no waivers/lim.; seat: left; toxicology performed; flight hours: 32 total, 32 in this make and model, 7 as pilot in command, 32 in the last 90 days, 5 in the last 30 days, 3 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Instrument (IMC), Day - Wind: calm - Temperature: 50 °F ## FAA reports on this event (1) The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs). - [Accident 19950521012099A](https://openairdocs.org/incident/19950521012099A), May 21, 1995: Cessna STC150, Wasilla, AK, Destroyed, 1 fatal. Off course on solo cross country. Impacted mountainsaide in narrow valley. Ridges obscured by clouds in area. From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.