- Date
- October 2, 2016, 11:57 local (19:57 UTC)
- Place
- Togiak, AK
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N208SDCessna 208B
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: VFR encounter with IMC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 1, 2018
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA, Honeywell Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Hageland Aviation Services, Inc., Hageland Aviation, Hartzell Propellers
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 20161002019779A
- Case key
- 94121
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 flight crew's decision to continue the visual flight rules flight into deteriorating visibility and their failure to perform an immediate escape maneuver after entry into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Contributing to the accident were (1) Hageland's allowance of routine use of the terrain inhibit switch for inhibiting the terrain awareness and warning system alerts and inadequate guidance for uninhibiting the alerts, which reduced the margin of safety, particularly in deteriorating visibility; (2) Hageland's inadequate crew resource management (CRM) training; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to ensure that Hageland's approved CRM training contained all the required elements of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations 135.330; and (4) Hageland's CFIT avoidance ground training, which was not tailored to the company's operations and did not address current CFIT-avoidance technologies.
Findings · 20
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 NTSB's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/AccidentReports.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-18/02. On October 2, 2016, about 1157 Alaska daylight time, Ravn Connect flight 3153, a turbine-powered Cessna 208B Grand Caravan airplane, N208SD, collided with steep, mountainous terrain about 10 nautical miles northwest of Togiak Airport (PATG), Togiak, Alaska. The two commercial pilots and the passenger were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The scheduled commuter flight was operated under visual flight rules by Hageland Aviation Services, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at PATG (which had the closest weather observing station to the accident site), but a second company flight crew (whose flight departed about 2 minutes after the accident airplane and initially followed a similar route) reported that they observed unexpected fog, changing clouds, and the potential for rain along the accident route. Company flight-following procedures were in effect. The flight departed Quinhagak Airport, Quinhagak, Alaska, about 1133 and was en route to PATG.
Factual narrative
The NTSB's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/AccidentReports.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-18/02. On October 2, 2016, about 1157 Alaska daylight time, Ravn Connect flight 3153, a turbine-powered Cessna 208B Grand Caravan airplane, N208SD, collided with steep, mountainous terrain about 10 nautical miles northwest of Togiak Airport (PATG), Togiak, Alaska. The two commercial pilots and the passenger were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The scheduled commuter flight was operated under visual flight rules by Hageland Aviation Services, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at PATG (which had the closest weather observing station to the accident site), but a second company flight crew (whose flight departed about 2 minutes after the accident airplane and initially followed a similar route) reported that they observed unexpected fog, changing clouds, and the potential for rain along the accident route. Company flight-following procedures were in effect. The flight departed Quinhagak Airport, Quinhagak, Alaska, about 1133 and was en route to PATG.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N208SD
- Reported as
- Cessna 208B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 208B0491
- Built
- 1995
- Airframe hours
- 20,562.1
- Engine
- P&W PT6-114A, 675 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Hageland Aviation Services Inc, doing business as Ravn Connect
- Registered owner
- Icecap LLC Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · September 15, 2016
- Departed
- PAQH · Quinhagak, AK
- Destination
- PATG · Togiak, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- PATG · Togiak
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Auto-pilot, Satellite tracking device, Stall warning system, 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 43
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 7, 2016
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,481 total · 781 in this make and model · 6,181 as pilot in command · 271 in the last 90 days · 102 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Age
- 29
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Last flight review
- September 3, 2016
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 273 total · 84 in this make and model · 139 as pilot in command · 84 in the last 90 days · 83 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,700 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.87 inHg
- Observed at
- PATG, 11 nm away
Docket · 81
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 17, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 94.4 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.