Cessna 207 accident near Aniak, Alaska, September 20, 2000
On September 20, 2000 at about 2:15 pm local time, a Cessna 207, registered N42472, was destroyed in an accident near Aniak, Alaska (Forty Seven Mile Creek airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). 1 person was killed.
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The pilot's decision to initiate visual flight into dark night instrument meteorological conditions. Factors associated with the accident are a low ceiling, a dark night, the pilot's failure to follow regulatory procedures and directives, and his self-induced pressure to return to base to take another flight.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- September 20, 2000 · about 2:15 pm local time
- Place
- Aniak, Alaska · Forty Seven Mile Creek · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- 1 person was killed.
- Weather
- not recorded
- Aircraft
- Cessna 207 · all 207s on the register
- Registration
- N42472 · no longer on the register · serial 207-00148
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The air taxi pilot had flown to a remote airstrip and lodge in a company airplane to go hunting. He was scheduled the next morning for a flight from his company's base of operations, his original departure airport. According to a hunting guide at the lodge, the pilot departed the lodge's airstrip about 0608, with a load of revenue cargo. A few minutes later, the guide heard the sound of an airplane, and then a loud impact. The guide could not see the wreckage because it was too dark outside. He departed in his own airplane, but entered clouds shortly after takeoff, and had to return. The guide commented he thought the accident pilot was trying to return to the lodge airstrip because of the poor weather and darkness. The wreckage was located on a nearby mountain in daylight hours after the cloud cover had dissipated. Postaccident inspection disclosed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical anomalies with the airplane. Official sunrise was 0813; official civil twilight was 0730. The time of the accident was approximately 0615.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: commercial pilot
- Ratings: single-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 1,788 hours in all; 300 in the last 90 days; 100 in the last 30 days; 900 as pilot in command
- Last flight review: March 20, 2000
- Medical certificate: Class 2 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
- Injury: fatal
The aircraft
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection
- Maximum gross weight: 3,800 lb
- Seats: 2
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Continental IO-520 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: 47 Mile Creek AK at 9:10 am
- Destination: ANI Aniak AK
- Flight plan: none
- Runway 09, 3,000 ft by 50 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: not reported
- Sky: overcast at 500 ft; not recorded
- Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.