Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Nanwalek, Alaska 99603
Friday, July 1, 2005 12:00 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport certificated pilot and the two pilot-rated passengers traveled to Alaska for a Title 14, CFR Part 91 personal flying vacation. The pilot received a VFR check-out in a rented airplane, and was the only person authorized by its owner to fly it. The pilot obtained a weather briefing for the day of the accident flight, and queried an FAA automated flight service station (AFSS) specialist about VFR conditions for a sight-seeing flight. The FSS specialist stated, in part, "Well, it doesn't really look good probably anywhere today..." The area forecast included areas of marginal VFR and IFR conditions, and an AIRMET for mountain obscuration. The cloud and sky conditions included scattered clouds at 1,500 feet in light rain showers, with areas of isolated ceilings below 1,000 feet, and visibility below 3 statute miles in rain showers and mist. The weather briefing included a report from a pilot who was about 23 miles north of the accident scene about 2 hours before the accident airplane departed. The pilot reported fog and mist to the water, and said he was unable to maintain VFR. Five minutes after receiving the weather briefing, the accident pilot again called the AFSS and requested the telephone number to an automated weather observing system, located south of the point of departure, where VFR conditions were forecast. Local fishing charter captains reported fog in the area of the islands where the accident occurred. One vessel captain reported hearing an airplane in the vicinity of the islands, but could not see it because of the fog. The pilot did not file a flight plan, nor did he indicate any planned itinerary. The airplane was reported overdue two days after departure. The accident wreckage was located an additional two days later on the north cliff face of a remote island. The airplane had collided with the island at high speed, about 800 feet mean sea level, and a postcrash fire had incinerated the cockpit and cabin area.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's continued VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in an in-flight collision with an island cliff during cruise flight. A factor contributing to the accident was fog in the area of the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/1/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Nanwalek |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99603 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 585635N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1520118W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PASO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 29 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 31 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.78 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19081 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1621U |
| NTSB Number | ANC05FA090 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | T207 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 20700221 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 7416 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Aero Tech Flight Services Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 Merrill Field Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anchorage |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99501 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | John H. Phillips |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Columbia |
| Operator State | SC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 29223 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PAHO |
| Departure City | Homer |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 15 2005 2:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PETL |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |