- Date
- September 17, 1994, 12:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Whittier, AK
- Injuries
- 6 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1433Zde Havilland DHC2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 9, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19940917041169A
- Case key
- 2573
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 inadequate in-flight planning and inadequate compensation for the wind conditions. An initial tail wind and later a crosswind were factors in the accident.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot was landing a float equipped airplane in a small harbor adjacent to an ocean channel. The on-demand charter flight was transporting five passengers to a remote cabin. Due to large ocean swells in the channel, the pilot elected to land in the harbor and during the landing runout, encountered a tailwind that extended the water run. As the airplane traveled abeam a break in the shoreline at the harbor entrance, it was hit by an unexpected gust of wind from the right. The airplane began to turn toward the right. All attempts by the pilot to control the aircraft were ineffective. The airplane struck a beach area at the north end of the harbor.
Factual narrative
On September 17, 1994, at 1200 Alaska daylight time, a float equipped DeHavilland DHC2 Beaver airplane, N1433Z, registered to and operated by Rust's Flying Service of Anchorage, Alaska, collided with terrain while landing in a small harbor area of the Culross passage, approximately 18 miles east of Whittier, Alaska.
The commercial certificated pilot-in-command and his five revenue passengers were not injured and the airplane was substantially damaged. The on-demand revenue flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 135, last departed Anchorage and the intended destination was the area in which the accident occurred. The pilot reported that visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company flight plan was in effect.
Due to large ocean swells in the Culross channel, the pilot elected to land in a small harbor adjacent to the channel. The pilot reported that during the landing runout, the plane encountered a tailwind that extended the water run. As the airplane traveled abeam a break in the shoreline at the harbor entrance, it was hit by an unexpected gust of wind from the right which effectively put the plane in a right turn. All efforts to control the turning (full left rudder, flaps up, water rudders down, throttle idle) were to no avail and the plane impacted a beach area at the north end of the harbor, bow first. All right side float struts were broken and the fuselage was essentially resting upon the right float.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1433Z
- Reported as
- de Havilland DHC2
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 595
- Airframe hours
- 13,150
- Engine
- P&W R-985, 450 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Rust'S Flying Service
- Registered owner
- Rust'S Flying Service
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Transport; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 31, 1994 · 85 hours before
- Departed
- LHD · Anchorage, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- Culross Passage
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,501 total · 4,864 in this make and model · 9,439 as pilot in command · 366 in the last 90 days · 116 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,700 ft broken
- Temperature
- 45 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N1433Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.