Mcdonnell Douglas MD-80 incident near Anchorage, Alaska, December 6, 1996
On December 6, 1996, a Mcdonnell Douglas MD-80, registered N954AS, suffered minor damage in an incident near Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage International airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under scheduled airline rules (Part 121). No one was hurt; 112 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The ground crew's failure to maintain communication with the flight crew while loading cargo after pushback and engine start, and the ground and flightcrew's failure to follow the procedure outlined in their manuals concerning use of marshallers during pushback and waveoff signals by the groundcrew and flightcrew.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- December 6, 1996
- Place
- Anchorage, Alaska · Anchorage International · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 112 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Mcdonnell Douglas MD-80
- Registration
- N954AS · registry record · serial 49387
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · scheduled airline rules (Part 121)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The airplane was pushed back from the gate, the tug was disconnected, and the engines were started. The push back tug drove away to the gate. Another tug towing a baggage cart with 3 pieces of late cargo drove up to the mid cargo compartment on the right side of the airplane. The baggage tug driver and the right side wing walker began to load the cargo in the mid section cargo compartment. One piece of cargo would not fit. They began to carry the cargo to the forward cargo compartment. The left side wing walker, who had been standing in front of the airplane and was considered to be the marshaller, walked to the forward cargo bin and opened the door and began to assist in the loading. The airplane began taxiing and the right wing struck the tug which had parked in front of the right wing. The ground mashaller did not give a wave off to the flight crew, nor did he alert the flight crew that additional cargo was to be loaded as required by the flight operations manual and the customer services manual. The flight crew did not receive nor did they give a salute to anyone. They did not use their nose wheel taxi light to signal anyone as stated in their flight operations manual.
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: airline transport pilot, flight engineer
- Ratings: multi-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 19,485 hours in all; 4,987 in this make and model; 170 in the last 90 days; 72 in the last 30 days; 6,120 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Last inspection: continuous airworthiness programme
- Maximum gross weight: 149,500 lb
- Seats: 137
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: P&W JT8D-217 (turbojet); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: ANC
- Destination: SEA Seattle WA
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 0
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: night, dark
- Wind: from 360° at 16 knots
- Visibility: 20 statute miles
- Sky: not recorded; scat at 4,500 ft
- Temperature: 12°F (-11°C), dew point 21°F (-6°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
- Observation at 11:52 pm from ANC, 1 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 6 | |||
| Passengers | 106 |
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.
Other NTSB records under N954AS the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
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.