- Date
- August 9, 2010, 14:45 local (22:45 UTC)
- Place
- Aleknagik, AK
- Injuries
- 5 fatal, 4 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N455ADehavilland DHC-3
- Defining event
- Enroute: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 2, 2011
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration, Viking Air Limited, Honeywell
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 20100809045749A
- Case key
- 76920
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's temporary unresponsiveness for reasons that could not be established from the available information. Contributing to the investigation's inability to determine exactly what occurred in the final minutes of the flight was the lack of a cockpit recorder system with the ability to capture audio, images, and parametric data.
Findings · 6
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-11/03. On August 9, 2010, about 1442 Alaska daylight time, a single-engine, turbine powered, amphibious float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3T airplane, N455A, impacted mountainous, tree-covered terrain about 10 nautical miles (nm) northeast of Aleknagik, Alaska. The airline transport pilot and four passengers received fatal injuries, and four passengers received serious injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage, including deformation and breaching of the fuselage. The flight was operated by GCI Communication Corp. (GCI), of Anchorage, Alaska, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. About the time of the accident, meteorological conditions that met the criteria for marginal visual flight rules were reported at Dillingham Airport, Dillingham, Alaska, about 18 nm south of the accident site. No flight plan was filed. The flight departed about 1427 from a GCI-owned private lodge on the shore of Lake Nerka and was en route to a remote sport fishing camp about 52 nm southeast on the Nushagak River.
Factual narrative
The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-11/03. On August 9, 2010, about 1442 Alaska daylight time, a single-engine, turbine powered, amphibious float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3T airplane, N455A, impacted mountainous, tree-covered terrain about 10 nautical miles (nm) northeast of Aleknagik, Alaska. The airline transport pilot and four passengers received fatal injuries, and four passengers received serious injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage, including deformation and breaching of the fuselage. The flight was operated by GCI Communication Corp. (GCI), of Anchorage, Alaska, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. About the time of the accident, meteorological conditions that met the criteria for marginal visual flight rules were reported at Dillingham Airport, Dillingham, Alaska, about 18 nm south of the accident site. No flight plan was filed. The flight departed about 1427 from a GCI-owned private lodge on the shore of Lake Nerka and was en route to a remote sport fishing camp about 52 nm southeast on the Nushagak River.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N455A
- Reported as
- Dehavilland DHC-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 206
- Engine
- Honeywell TPE 331, 900 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Operator
- General Communication Corporation (GCI)
- Registered owner
- Gci Communication Corp
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- Aleknagik, AK
- Destination
- Dillingham, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 62
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 12 knots, gusting 23
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.57 inHg
- Observed at
- DLG, 18 nm away
Docket · 51
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 21, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 77.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.