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ANC89FA160

1989-09-06 · TANACROSS, Alaska, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport TSG

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

POOR JUDGEMENT BY THE PILOT BY BUZZING THE AIRPORT AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT ALTITUDE/CLEARANCE ABOVE THE TERRAIN. THE PILOT'S USE OF ABRUPT MANEUVERS WAS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.

Factual narrative

AFTER RTRNG FM A HUNTING TRIP, THE PLT WAS PREPARING TO FLY TO ANOTHER LOCATION. SOMEONE ASKED HIM IF IT WOULD BE PERMISSIBLE TO FILM HIS TAKEOFF BY MOUNTING A CAMERA IN THE TAKEOFF AREA. THE PLT AGREED, BUT ELECTED TO USE THE TAXIWAY (TWY) TO FILM THE TAKEOFF. THE CAMERA WAS MOUNTED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWY. AFTER THE PLT TOOK OFF OVER THE CAMERA, HE TURNED BACK & FLEW ACROSS THE ARPT AT A RELATIVELY LOW ALT. THE ACFT THEN ENTERED A STEEP CLIMBING TURN. ONE WITNESS SAID THE PLT THEN 'EXECUTED THE ONE-HALF ROLL TO THE RIGHT TO UPSIDE DOWN, TURN BACK AND DOWN . . . PARALLELTO THE LARGE RUNWAY.' SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT CRASHED ON THE RUNWAY & BEGAN BURNING. IT WAS DEMOLISHED BY IMPACT & FIRE.NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL PROBLEMS WERE FOUND DRG THE INVESTIGATION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ANC89FA160.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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