- Date
- September 5, 1988, 13:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Sitka, AK
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 5 serious, 2 minor, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N111VABritten-Norman BN-2A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 25, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880905036609A
- Case key
- 40734
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 pilot encountered low ceilings, rain and fog while attempting to fly through a narrow mountain pass and successfully reversed course. He then flew into a small canyon off the main pass that terminated in a small glacier-covered bowl surrounded by steep rock walls. When it became apparent during a turn to reverse course that there was insufficient space to complete the maneuver before collision with a rock wall, the pilot retarded the throttles and crash landed on a glacier.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N111VA
- Reported as
- Britten-Norman BN-2A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 215
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-E4C5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Daniel S. Baldwin, doing business as Wrangell Air Service
- Registered owner
- Daniel S. Baldwin, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 15, 1988
- Destination
- PSG · Petersburg, AK
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 51
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total · 191 in this make and model · 3,808 as pilot in command · 112 in the last 90 days · 52 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,800 ft broken
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SIT, 9 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.