- Date
- October 6, 1995, 14:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Healy, AK
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N704UQCessna 150M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 18, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19951006031329A
- Case key
- 2777
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
A failure of the pilot to adequately compensate for crosswind conditions. A factor in the accident was a crosswind.
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
While searching for an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal, the accident site was spotted by a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) airplane. An FAA inspector responded to the area of the accident and observed the airplane wreckage on a trailer. During a conversation with the inspector, the student pilot indicated that he was flying to an airstrip with a passenger to go to work. During the landing approach, the pilot encountered a strong crosswind from the left and the airplane collided with trees along the edge of the runway.
Factual narrative
On October 6, 1995, about 1430 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 150M, N704UQ, crashed during landing at the Healy River airport, Healy, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country business flight when the accident occurred. The airplane, registered to Whittier Service Inc., Sterling, Alaska, sustained substantial damage. The pilot, holder of a student pilot certificate, was not injured. The sole passenger received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at the Merrill Field airport, Anchorage, Alaska, about 1145.
The accident was initially reported when a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) airplane spotted the wreckage while searching for an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, Fairbanks Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), reported that while responding to the area of the accident, he observed the airplane wreckage on a trailer. During a conversation with the inspector, the pilot indicated that he was flying to Healy with a passenger to go to work. During the landing on runway 15, the pilot encountered a strong crosswind from the left and the airplane collided with trees along the edge of the runway.
The FAA inspector provided the pilot with a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) pilot/operator report (form 6120.1/2). No further contact with the pilot was established and the form was not returned. A second pilot/operator report was sent to the pilot on December 12, 1995. It was returned unclaimed.
The aeronautical experience listed on page 3 of this report was obtained from a review of airmen records on file in the FAA's Airman and Medical Records Center located in Oklahoma City. On the pilot's application for medical certificate, dated 5/15/94, the pilot indicated that his total aeronautical experience consisted of 436 hours.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N704UQ
- Reported as
- Cessna 150M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1507888
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Rodney B. Baker
- Registered owner
- Whittier Service Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- MRI · Anchorage, AK
- Destination
- HRR
- Airport
- HRR · Healy River, runway 15, 2,800 × 60 ft, gravel
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 436 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.