Amateur-built AIR CAM accident near Fairbanks, Alaska, February 2, 2000
On February 2, 2000 at about 7:00 pm local time, a amateur-built AIR CAM, registered N6381V, was substantially damaged in an accident near Fairbanks, Alaska (Chena Marina airport). It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The pilot's improper compensation for wind conditions during the single-engine landing. Factors associated with this accident were the pilot's intentional shut down of the left engine, the right crosswind, the icy runway, and the snow berms on the edge of the runway.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made November 2, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- February 2, 2000 · about 7:00 pm local time · cases in 2000
- Place
- Fairbanks, Alaska · Chena Marina · cases near this airport
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Amateur-built AIR CAM
- Registration
- N6381V · registry record · serial 046
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The commercial pilot was on a local pleasure flight in his experimental airplane. During the flight the left engine cylinder head temperature began to overheat, and he elected to shut that engine down. The pilot stated that during landing, the winds were blowing and gusting from the right. During landing roll, a wind gust lifted the right wing. The pilot added power to the operating (right) engine, the airplane departed the left side of the snow-covered runway, and struck a snow berm. The pilot wrote in his NTSB Pilot/Operator report that he could have restarted the left engine for the landing.
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: flight instructor, commercial pilot
- Ratings: single-engine land; single-engine sea; instructor: airplane single-engine; instructor: instrument airplane; instrument: airplane; rotorcraft: glider
- Flight time: 6,099 hours in all; 36 in this make and model; 34 in the last 90 days; 14 in the last 30 days; 5,791 as pilot in command; 296 on instruments
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: frt
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 36 hours
- Last inspection: annual inspection, October 22, 1999; 36 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 1,750 lb
- Seats: 2
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Rotax 914 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: AK28 Fairbanks AK at 6:35 pm
- Flight plan: none
- Runway 18, 4,700 ft by 50 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 250° at 15 knots, gusting 25
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: scat at 9,000 ft
- Temperature: 19°F (-7°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
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.
Connections how this case links to the rest of the register
- N6381V on the register today · the tail number may have moved to another aircraft since
- Engine: Rotax 914 228 aircraft carry this series today · as the NTSB recorded it
- Chena Marina Airport · nearest airport
- Accidents and incidents in Alaska 5,932 since 1982 · 825 in the last ten years
- Alaska 9,142 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/accident/ANC00LA023.json.
The bigger picture in Aviation Analytics: accidents over time since 1982, by model, by phase of flight and conditions, by place and on the map.
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 does not name anyone involved, its policy at this time. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.