- Date
- June 25, 2015, 12:15 local (20:15 UTC)
- Place
- Ketchikan, AK
- Injuries
- 9 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N270PADehavilland DHC-3
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 17, 2017
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- Hartzell Propeller, Promech Air, Federal Aviation Administration, Genesys Aerosystems, Holland America Group
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 91435
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
(1) the pilot's decision to continue visual flight into an area of instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in his geographic disorientation and controlled flight into terrain; and (2) Promech's company culture, which tacitly endorsed flying in hazardous weather and failed to manage the risks associated with the competitive pressures affecting Ketchikan-area air tour operators; its lack of a formal safety program; and its inadequate operational control of flight releases.
Findings · 9
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/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/aviation.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-17/02. On June 25, 2015, about 1215 Alaska daylight time, a single-engine, turbine-powered, float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3 (Otter) airplane, N270PA, collided with mountainous, tree-covered terrain about 24 miles east-northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The commercial pilot and eight passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was owned by Pantechnicon Aviation, of Minden, Nevada, and operated by Promech Air, Inc., of Ketchikan. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 as an on-demand sightseeing flight; a company visual flight rules flight plan (by which the company performed its own flight-following) was in effect. Marginal visual flight rules conditions were reported in the area at the time of the accident. The flight departed about 1207 from Rudyerd Bay about 44 miles east-northeast of Ketchikan and was en route to the operator's base at the Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base, Ketchikan.
Factual narrative
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/aviation.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-17/02. On June 25, 2015, about 1215 Alaska daylight time, a single-engine, turbine-powered, float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3 (Otter) airplane, N270PA, collided with mountainous, tree-covered terrain about 24 miles east-northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The commercial pilot and eight passengers sustained fatal injuries, and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was owned by Pantechnicon Aviation, of Minden, Nevada, and operated by Promech Air, Inc., of Ketchikan. The flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 as an on-demand sightseeing flight; a company visual flight rules flight plan (by which the company performed its own flight-following) was in effect. Marginal visual flight rules conditions were reported in the area at the time of the accident. The flight departed about 1207 from Rudyerd Bay about 44 miles east-northeast of Ketchikan and was en route to the operator's base at the Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base, Ketchikan.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N270PA
- Reported as
- Dehavilland DHC-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 270
- Built
- 1958
- Airframe hours
- 24,439.5
- Engine
- turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Promech Air, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Pantechnicon Aviation Ltd
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · June 10, 2015
- Departed
- Ketchikan, AK
- Destination
- Ketchikan, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, Electronic multifunction display, ADS-B
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
- 64
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,912 total · 37 in this make and model · 3,912 as pilot in command · 153 in the last 90 days · 91 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 15 knots, gusting 23
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,200 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.90 inHg
- Observed at
- KTN, 24 nm away
Docket · 59
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 21, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports.