Cessna 207A accident near Juneau, Alaska, June 9, 1998
On June 9, 1998 at about 8:31 pm local time, a Cessna 207A, registered N96AK, was substantially damaged in an accident near Juneau, Alaska. It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). No one was hurt; 5 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The failure of company maintenance personnel to properly install a wire bundle clamp; chafing, electrical arcing, and subsequent leaking of a fuel line, which resulted in an in-flight fire. A factor associated with the accident was company maintenance personnel's failure to discover a missing clamp during a 100 hour inspection.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- June 9, 1998 · about 8:31 pm local time
- Place
- Juneau, Alaska · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 5 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna 207A · all 207As on the register
- Registration
- N96AK · registry record · serial 20700782
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The certificated commercial pilot, and four passengers, departed in a single-engine airplane on a scheduled commuter flight over terrain consisting of open water and wooded islands. Thirteen minutes later during a climb, the pilot noted smoke and heat coming from beneath the mid-cabin floor, and declared an emergency, reporting a fire in the airplane. The pilot ditched the airplane in shallow water along a shoreline of a small island. The fire, which was located under the right front seat between the cabin floor and the lower airplane belly skin, was self-extinguished during the ditching. Post-accident examination disclosed a fuel line, a bundled set of electrical wires, and a Loran antenna cable, had all been routed adjacent to each other under the cabin floor, contrary to FAA recommended methodology. The Loran antenna cable had been installed 10 years prior to the accident. Two small holes, consistent with arcing, were found in the fuel line. Evidence of arcing was found on one of the electrical wires. Plastic tie wraps attached the wire/antenna bundle to plastic clamps that were each secured to fuselage formers under the floor by bolts or screws. One clamp, adjacent to the holes found in the fuel line, was missing from its attach point. A screw and a small melted portion of a plastic tie wrap were found adjacent to each other in the fuselage belly, beneath the cabin floor. An annual inspection was accomplished six months before the accident. A 100-hour inspection was completed 11 days before the accident. Each company inspection checklist includes an inspection of the internal structure of the fuselage, and an inspection of antenna cables. The FAA recommended technique for attaching clamps to structure is the use of bolts with locknuts, or self-locking nuts.
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: multi-engine land; single-engine land; single-engine sea; instructor: airplane single-engine; instructor: instrument airplane; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 1,330 hours in all; 45 in this make and model; 60 in the last 90 days; 30 in the last 30 days; 900 as pilot in command; 430 on instruments
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 11,809 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, May 29, 1998; 46 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 3,800 lb
- Seats: 7
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Continental IO-520 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: JNU at 3:13 pm
- Destination: HNH Hoonah AK
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 234° at 10 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: broken clouds at 3,800 ft; scat at 2,500 ft
- Temperature: 55°F (13°C), dew point 45°F (7°C)
- Altimeter: 29.00 inHg
- Observation at 3:47 pm from JNU, 4 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 4 |
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.