Probable cause
The pilot's intentional flight into a building.
NTSB analysis
Witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying in an easterly direction at a very low altitude before striking the northwest corner of an office building. The airplane's wreckage continued traveling east while descending into an adjacent office building and subsequently struck an electrical transformer. A postcrash fire consumed the airplane wreckage. The private pilot intentionally flew the airplane into the side of the building, and he was killed. The flight was not authorized and the event was an intentional act, so the Federal Bureau of Investigation assumed jurisdiction and control of the investigation.
Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ANC16LA011 for the full record.
Event
- Date
- Dec 29, 2015
- Type
- Accident
- Place
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Nearest airport
- Merrill Field (MRI)
- Highest injury
- Fatal
- Fatal injuries
- 1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC)
- Light
- Night
Cessna 172
- N-number
- N914CP
- Category
- Airplane
- Year built
- 1999
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Operating rule
- Part 91 (general aviation)
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
From the NTSB aviation accident database: N-registered aircraft, events since 2008, data through Oct 28, 2026. The file is published monthly, so the latest weeks are incomplete and recent records can change. The official source is the NTSB aviation investigation search. CheckAero is independent and not affiliated with the NTSB.