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Atlas / NTSB / ANC95LA024

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC95LA024

1994-12-25 UNALAKLEET, Alaska, United States Airport · UNK None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N7137T

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172

Year of manufacture

1959 · 35 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-300 SER (145 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19590813

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A98A91

Registrant of record

LEAVITT JOHN E

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE COMPENSATION FOR A CROSSWIND CONDITION. A CROSSWIND WAS A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT.

Factual narrative

On December 25, 1994, at 1430 Alaska standard time, a wheel equipped Cessna 172 airplane, N7137T, registered to and operated by the pilot, nosed down and skidded into a packing crate while taxiing for takeoff at Unalakleet, Alaska. The personal flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, was departing Unalakleet and the destination was Teller, Alaska. A VFR flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured and the airplane received substantial damage. According to the pilot, during taxi he hit a small snow bank that caused the airplane to nose down. The wind then skidded the airplane into a snowmobile packing crate which put a hole in the cabin roof. The pilot indicated that he was taxiing northbound and the winds of about 25 knots were from the east. THE PILOT WAS TAXIING HIS HIGH-WING, WHEEL EQUIPPED AIRPLANE FOR TAKEOFF IN A NORTHBOUND DIRECTION. A CROSSWIND OF ABOUT 25 KNOTS WAS BLOWING FROM THE EAST. DURING THE TAXI, THE NOSE WHEEL HIT A SMALL SNOW BANK AND THE AIRPLANE NOSED DOWN SLIGHTLY. THE WIND THEN PICKED UP THE AFT END OF THE AIRPLANE AND PUSHED IT ONTO ITS NOSE. THE AIRPLANE WAS PUSHED ACROSS THE RAMP AND INTO A SNOWMOBILE PACKING CRATE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1994_ANC95LA024.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗