Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / ANC77DAA11

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC77DAA11

1977-02-26 BETTLES, Alaska, United States Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4177Z

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-18-150

Year of manufacture

1966 · 11 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19660110

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A4F186

Registrant of record

CRUISER LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Historical record (pre-1982)

NTSB recorded this accident in the pre-1982 coded-field schema — structured fields rather than free-text narrative. Decoded codes use established NTSB single-letter taxonomies; cause factors remain verbatim pending the Form 6120.4 codebook lookup.

Aircraft

PIPER PA-18 · N4177Z

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Night

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EE

Operator type

D

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000018-8355

Total time

4,300 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

7,100

Age

42

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

DITIONS.

Investigator remarks

POOR DEPTH PERCEPTION CUES DUE TO FLAT LIGHT CON

Cause factors

  • 64/A/25 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER LEVEL OFF Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 83/J/B J
    TERRAIN SNOW-COVERED Joint cause

Decoded against the NTSB Form 6120.4 cause-factor codebook (ct_Pre1982 table). Each row shows the raw triplet, modifier (Cause / Factor / etc.), category, and specific code.

Source: NTSB pre-1982 historical archive. Docket 3 0543. Source file NTSB_1977_3_0543.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.