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Alaska Airlines Flight 1866
1971 fatal jet airliner crash / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Alaska Airlines from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, with several intermediate stops in southeast Alaska. The aircraft was a Boeing 727-100 with U.S. registry N2969G[1] manufactured in 1966. On September 4, 1971, the aircraft operating the flight crashed into a mountain in Haines Borough, about 18 miles west of Juneau, Alaska, while on approach for landing. All 111 people aboard were killed.[2] The subsequent investigation found that erroneous navigation readouts led the crew to descend prematurely. No definitive cause for the misleading data was found. It was the first fatal jet aircraft crash involving Alaska Airlines, and remained the deadliest single-aircraft accident in United States history until June 24, 1975, when Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 crashed.[3] It is still, however, the worst air disaster in Alaska state history.[4]
![]() N2969G, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 1967, while still operating with Pacific Air Lines | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | September 4, 1971 (1971-09-04) |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to possible navigational error |
Site | Haines Borough, Alaska 58.361666°N 135.170000°W / 58.361666; -135.170000 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 727-193 |
Operator | Alaska Airlines |
IATA flight No. | AS1866 |
ICAO flight No. | ASA1866 |
Call sign | ALASKA 66 |
Registration | N2969G |
Flight origin | Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska |
1st stopover | Merle K. (Mudhole) Smith Airport, Cordova, Alaska |
2nd stopover | Yakutat Airport, Yakutat, Alaska |
3rd stopover | Juneau International Airport, Juneau, Alaska |
Last stopover | Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Sitka, Alaska |
Destination | Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, Washington |
Occupants | 111 |
Passengers | 104 |
Crew | 7 |
Fatalities | 111 |
Survivors | 0 |