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).
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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 October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- February 2, 2000 · about 7:00 pm local time
- Place
- Fairbanks, Alaska · Chena Marina
- 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.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number ANC00LA023.