- Date
- July 21, 1984, 13:40 local (17:40 UTC)
- Place
- Tau, Antarctica
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 7 serious, 8 minor; on the ground: 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N43SPde Havilland DHC-6-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840721039569A
- Case key
- 23981
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 acft crash landed after the plt used flaps and power to semi-control pitch after the elevator down control cable failed at about 300 ft AGL on final approach. The left wing of the acft hit the terminal roof during the stall mush FROM50 ft AGL. The company is changing their acft control cables from steel to stainless steel to aid in the anti-corrosion and modifying their inspection period from 800 to 100 hours between inspections. The cable that separated failed from corrosion. No evidence of fatigue cracking or mechanical wear was found. Corrosion products were found within 2 inches of the serapation on both cable pieces.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N43SP
- Reported as
- de Havilland DHC-6-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 669
- Airframe hours
- 11,281
- Engine
- P&W PT6A-27, 620 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- South Pacific Island
- Registered owner
- South Pacific Island
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · July 20, 1984 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- PPG · Pago Pago,Samoa, OF
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- HI36 · Tau, runway 36, 2,170 × 100 ft, dirt
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
- 32
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,094 total · 1,020 in this make and model · 4,026 as pilot in command · 391 in the last 90 days · 117 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.