A midair collision with minor damage near Anchorage between two Cessnas was reported on the Federal Aviation Administration. The incident happened on Sept. 4.
A Cessna 185, owned by Above and Beyond Aviation of Anchorage was reported to have had to dive in midair to avoid a Cessna 182, according to the FAA incident reporting system.
“AIRCRAFT IN-FLIGHT DAMAGED WING TIP AND LEFT TIRE MARKS ON N737DM, ANCHORAGE, AK.,” reads one line on the incident summary.
“AIRCRAFT DOVE TO AVOID ANOTHER AIRCRAFT N21132, LANDED AND POST FLIGHT INSPECTION REVEALED WING TIP DAMAGE WITH TIRE MARKS, ANCHORAGE, AK.” reads another line.
Both incidents were reported to have happened in the late evening.
The Cessna A185F Skywagon, a float plane, left Lake Hood in Anchorage at 6:50 pm for a 30-minute flight. It was struck by the Cessna 182P Skylane, a wheeled plane, which is registered to an Aniak address.
Few other details were available but apparently both planes were able to land without anything other than the black tire scuffs and minor damage on the wing of the Skywagon.
Lake Hood is the busiest seaplane base in the world, with nearly 200 daily operations.
This sounds like such an impossibly easy thing to avoid. Does anyone know if either of these pilots were vaccinated?
LOL…that was awesome
And if their masks fogged their glasses, well, that’s too bad. That’s a small price to pay for keeping everyone safe and showing everyone that you care for them.
College Greg! Great comment!
Why does it matter if the pilots were vaccinated? What does that have to do with anything?
That’s right clown – get the jab and still be forced into lock down and wear a mask in public. Two things we were told by the bumbling buffoons running the nation right now including Fauxcchi that we’d no longer need to do after being jabbed. Like being a useful idiot much?
There are familiar words or phrases said by pilots just before a fatal air accident occurs. Anybody know what words or phrases are most stated by pilots who have “close calls?”
Suzanne censors most of those words.
The same words that the pilots of fatal accidents use. But they repeat it over and over for the next hour.
Hopefully they were both wearing their face masks….
Two guys got very, very lucky. Cheers –
Almost all Lake Hood float and single engine wheel Planes arrive and depart though a “ funnel” near Point Mackenzie. They are generally within a few hundred feet of one another in terms of altitude.and a few hundred yards laterally. On busy holiday weekends starting on a Friday afternoon and ending on Sunday or Monday the out bound and inbound traffic can number several hundred aircraft within short periods of time. Add to those numbers the small aircraft traffic coming in and out of Merrill field; most of which fly though much of the “ funnel”, combined with the large aircraft traffic in and out of the Ted Stevens and Elmendorf airports, and it’s somewhat of a miracle there are not many more mid air collisions.
I often fly low over the water to hopefully eliminate the risk from air traffic below me. This is at the expense that I might lose an engine and am forced to ditch into the inlet which has its own risks.
Interestingly, statistics show that the biggest risk of a mid air is on a clear high visibility day.
We have been extremely lucky to not have had far more mid airs. But there will be more . The “funnel” is a trap that will strike again.
If they were following CDC “safe distancing” guidance and maintained 6 feet of separation, this could have been avoided. TSK!
Every time I fly into Lake Hood, it’s preceded by a thorough review of the approach / departure routes, the usual marker and reporting points, and other pertinent info. It gets awful busy out there, particularly during moose season.
Nothing but a guess, but would guess that if a wheel plane and float plane were involved, there was an issue of someone not staying North (or South) of the island.
Not sure what you mean with the word “island”. Over 90 % of general aviation aircraft ( small planes) are nowhere near an island when they come into or depart Lake Hood or Merrill field. And the only island in the area of Anchorage is Fire Island where generally only the large carrier planes operate over or nearby.
The general aviation planes whether on floats or wheels mostly arrive from the north ( from Pt Mackenzie) and depart to the north heading to the shore line about 1/2 mile to the west of Pt Mackenzie). Some small fraction arrive from the East and depart to the east. Again, nowhere near Fire Island. . All pilots who regularly fly into these airports know this.
Or you could look at a map and see the island in the channel connecting Lake Spenard and Lake Hood. Seaplanes land along that channel to the south of the island,
https: // www. google .com/maps/@61.183094,-149.9633174,1661m/data=!3m1!1e3
“Not sure what you mean with the word “island”. Over 90 % of general aviation aircraft ( small planes) are nowhere near an island when they come into or depart Lake Hood or Merrill field. And the only island in the area of Anchorage is Fire Island where generally only the large carrier planes operate over or nearby.”
In addition to looking on a map, one could take a few arrivals or departures from the Lake Hood gravel strip where “Gull Island” is frequently used in ATC guidance as in “Remain North of Gull Island”….with the intent being that Gull Island is used to separate the wheelplane traffic (for Lake Hood gravel strip) from the floatplane traffic using the channel. Hence the guess that (for a rubbing incident between a wheel plane and a float plane) someone didn’t properly position North or South of the island.
Reported that the contact took place over the inlet not next to gull island. But you are correct. There is that short narrow island that separates the take off channel from the taxi channel. I thought that he was talking about fire island. My apologies.
I have operated out of Lake Hood since 1968 on wheels and floats. Had a number of near mid airs but have been lucky. A couple of aircraft I never saw until they were by me. The area by the power line bend, the boat hull and Pt Mackenzie are often very crowded with small aircraft. Bad stuff has and will continue to happen if something doesn’t change.
The company’s name is Above and Beyond Aviation. Sounds like they were Underneath and Too Close Aviation.
Too many hipsters moving to Alaska, and the first thing they want is a bush plane, diesel truck, and moose antlers hanging in their million dollar cabin. FAA needs to step in and start regulating them. Too many accidents.
What an ignorant statement. If the pilot in the Above and Beyond Cessna 185 is who I think it is, he is a life long Alaskan, born and raised here with an incredible amount of aviation experience. Far from being a “newcomer hipster”.
Both pilots are safe,Take that to the bank…….
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