NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ANC90FA101
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S ATTEMPT TO FLY UNDER VISUAL FLIGHT RULES WHILE IN INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE LOW CEILING AND SURROUNDING MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.
Factual narrative
TWO AIRPLANES DEPARTED SEWARD WITHIN MINUTES OF EACH OTHER ON A LOCAL FLIGHTSEEING TRIP, AND THEIR FLIGHT ROUTES WERE TO BE THE SAME. AFTER REACHING AIALAK BAY, THIS AIRPLANE PASSED THE OTHER AND STARTED THE RETURN TRIP TO SEWARD. THE PASS THEY WOULD NORMALLY USE WAS OBSCURED BY CLOUDS. THE PENINSULA THAT SEPARATED AIALAK BAY AND SEWARD WAS THE ONLY PART OF LAND THAT WAS OBSCURED BY WEATHER. THE BASES OF THE CLOUDS WERE AT 1200 FEET MSL. THE AIRPLANE WAS LOCATED ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE, AT THE 2700 FOOT LEVEL OF A MOUNTAIN, AND THE WRECKAGE WAS SCATTERED ALONG 330 DEGREES. THE PILOT HAD BEEN HIRED LESS THAN 2 MONTHS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT AS A GROUND HANDLER AND FUELER, AND FOR PILOT TRAINING. TWO DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT HE WAS AUTHORIZED TO FLY PART 135 FLIGHTSEEING TRIPS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1990_ANC90FA101.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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