ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 324227
| Date: | Thursday 10 April 1997 |
| Time: | 20:30 |
| Type: |  Cessna 208B Grand Caravan |
| Owner/operator: | Hageland Aviation Services |
| Registration: | N408GV |
| MSN: | 208B0455 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1995 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 1700 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 8 km NW off Wainwright, AK -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Barrow-Point Barrow Airport, AK (PBA) |
| Wainwright Airport, AK (AIN/PAWI) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The pilot had contacted the Barrow Flight Service Station (FSS) eleven times on the day of the accident to obtain weather briefings. The conditions were below VFR minimums, which were required to conduct the passenger-carrying commercial flight in a single-engine airplane. The conditions later improved and the pilot departed under a special VFR clearance. The pilot performed two approaches at the Wainwright Airport (AIN) in IMC that were consistent with the two GPS approaches that were available there. Weather data and witnesses indicate that daylight conditions, low clouds and poor visibility prevailed, with cloud tops at 1,000 feet. After the second approach, the pilot radioed that he was heading back to the departure airport because he could not see the airport. The airplane impacted the frozen Arctic Ocean in a right bank and at a 60-degree nose-down attitude about three miles away from the location of the pilot's last radio transmission. An examination of the airplane before it sank through cracking ice, revealed no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions. An examination of the propeller revealed that it was under a power setting consistent with a maneuvering airspeed at the time of impact. The airplane was nearly full of fuel and over its published maximum gross weight at impact. Small pieces of clear ice, about 1/4-inch thick, were found on portions of the tail surfaces. Interviews with operator employees and the pilot's wife revealed that the pilot may have felt pressure from himself and passengers to complete the flight.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The pilot's intentional VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions and his failure to maintain altitude/clearance from terrain. Factors contributing to the accident were the weather conditions.
Accident investigation:
 |
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Sources:
NTSB id ANC97MA161
Location
Revision history:
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