Cessna 120 accident near Beluga, Alaska, July 18, 2004
On July 18, 2004 at about 2:00 am local time, a Cessna 120, registered N1847N, was substantially damaged in an accident near Beluga, Alaska. 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 failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during the landing roll, which resulted in airplane departing the landing surface into a ditch, and subsequently nosing over in tall bushes. A factor contributing to the accident was soft terrain along the edge of the landing surface.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made September 29, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- July 18, 2004 · about 2:00 am local time
- Place
- Beluga, Alaska · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 1 person was on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna 120 · all 120s on the register
- Registration
- N1847N · registry record · serial 12091
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The private certificated pilot was landing a tailwheel-equipped airplane on a gravel road. The pilot said the road was about 2,000 to 3,000 feet long, with about 3 feet of road surface on either side of the main landing gear tires. He said that during the landing roll, the left main tire encountered soft gravel along the left edge of the road, and the airplane was pulled to the left. The left wing subsequently collided with several bushes, and the airplane was pulled further to the left and into a ditch, where it nosed over. The airplane received structural damage to the leading edge of the right wing, and the aft right wing lift strut.
The NTSB's narratives can run to many pages; this is the opening. Read the full report at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database and is rewritten in plain English only where the NTSB used codes; the probable cause and narrative are the NTSB's own words. This site 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 ANC04LA081.