- Date
- September 27, 1989, 09:53 local (16:53 UTC)
- Place
- Grand Canyon, AZ
- Injuries
- 10 fatal, 9 serious, 2 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N75GCde Havilland DHC-6-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 5, 1991
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19890927036489A
- Case key
- 15922
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
Improper pilot techniques and crew coordination during the landing attempt, bounce, and attempted go-around.
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
Grand Canyon airlines flt 5 (Dehavilland DHC-6, N75GC) depd Grand Canyon national park arpt on a local part 135, sight- seeing flt. After rtrng from a normal trip, the flt was cleared to land on rwy 21. Observers rprtd the apch to the arpt was normal, but the acft traveled about 1000' down the rwy at an alt of about 5' before touchdown. Rprtdly, it bounced &traveled another 1000' before touching down again. The acft then veered to the rgt & the flt crew initiated a go-around (aborted lndg). The acft climbed in a nose high alt to about 150' to 200' AGL, then it rolled to the left & crashed ontoa wooded hill about 120' left of the rwy. A pwr line was severed during impact, which interupted elec pwr to the arpt & delayed emerg response to the crash. Surviving psgrs rprtd the rgt seat plt was flying the acft, while the left seat pltnarrated the tour; but after a hard touchdown, the left seat plt took ctl of the acft & applied full pwr for a go-around. A scrape mark was fnd where the rgt wingtip scraped the rwy during the 2nd touchdown.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N75GC
- Reported as
- de Havilland DHC-6-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 439
- Airframe hours
- 11,180
- Engine
- P&W PT6A-27, 620 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Grand Canyon Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · September 23, 1989 · 19 hours before
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- GCN · Grand Canyon, runway 21, 8,999 × 150 ft, asphalt
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
- 47
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 4,120 total · 2,610 in this make and model · 4,014 as pilot in command · 297 in the last 90 days · 79 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GCN
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.