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Atlas / NTSB / ANC98LA045

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC98LA045

1998-05-06 FAIRBANKS, Alaska, United States Airport · AK28 Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N7468D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-18A 150

Year of manufacture

1957 · 41 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19581125

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA0C48

Registrant of record

PINE GEORGE D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control and his inadequate compensation for wind conditions. A factor was the gusting crosswind.

Factual narrative

On May 6, 1998, at 1825 Alaska daylight time, a tundra tire equipped, Piper PA-18-150 airplane, N7468D, sustained substantial damage during landing at the Chena Marina Airport, Fairbanks, Alaska. The solo private pilot sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The flight had originated from Chena Marina at 1810 as a local flight after maintenance. The pilot was returning to land at the departure airport due to thunderstorms in the area. During a telephone interview with the NTSB Investigator-In-Charge and FAA inspectors on May 8, 1998, the pilot stated he was landing on runway 19 in variable winds, gusting to 14 knots. He said that after touchdown, a strong gust from the left pushed the airplane off the right side of the 4,700 feet long by 60 feet wide, gravel runway. The airplane struck an unmanned helicopter parked approximately 50 feet outside the right edge of the approach end of runway 19. The private pilot stated that during landing with variable, 10 knot winds, gusting to 14 knots, a gust from the left pushed the airplane off the right side of the runway. The airplane struck an unmanned helicopter parked 50 feet outside the edge of the 4,700 x 60 foot runway. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1998_ANC98LA045.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 or causal vocabulary (maintenance, thunderstorm). 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 ↗