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Atlas / NTSB / ANC99LA063

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ANC99LA063

1999-05-19 ANCHORAGE, Alaska, United States Airport · Z41 None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot misjudging the taxi clearance between the airplane's wingtip and the parked vehicle.

Factual narrative

On May 19, 1999, at 1430 Alaska daylight time, a Taylorcraft F-19 airplane, N3585T, sustained substantial damage when it collided with a parked vehicle while taxiing for takeoff at the Lake Hood Strip, Anchorage, Alaska. The solo private pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight to the pilot's cabin on Flathorn Lake, Alaska. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The pilot told the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) during an interview on May 21, and in her NTSB Pilot/Operator report, that she was taxiing from parking to the airstrip on an uncontrolled, shared, vehicle road/taxiway. She offset to the right to avoid a pickup truck parked at the edge of the taxiway. The road/taxiway is asphalt, 28 feet wide. The pilot told the IIC she misjudged the clearance, and the airplane's left wingtip contacted the luggage rack of the truck. The airplane spun around and dropped into a 2 feet deep ditch next to the road, damaging the left-rear spar. The pilot did not describe any preaccident anomalies with the airplane. The pickup truck was not damaged. The pilot was taxiing on a 28 feet wide, uncontrolled, asphalt, shared road/taxiway. She attempted to taxi past a pickup truck that was parked on the edge of the road. The pilot said that she saw the truck, but misjudged the clearance from the airplane's left wing. The left wing contacted the truck, the airplane spun around, and the airplane dropped into a 2 feet deep ditch next to the road. The pilot said there were no anomalies with the airplane. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1999_ANC99LA063.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.