De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter

Crashed on takeoff. There were no casualties.

This was the first flight after a maintenance inspection. The flaps were left full down after a post-inspection by company mechanics, before the flight. Witnesses stated the flaps were down when the aircraft taxied to takeoff on runway 19L. Witnesses stated the aircraft climbed steeply after it lifted off with a pitch attitude up to 60°. According to witnesses, the aircraft climbed to 200 to 500 feet agl, before it stalled and descended nose down in a left turn. The aircraft crashed about 300 ft left of and 2000 ft down the rwy. Examination of the aircraft revealed the flaps were full down. The scroll type checklist was positioned at the beginning of the takeoff check. The flight manual recommends a 10 degree flap setting for takeoff and prohibits flap full down takeoff. Review of previous DHC-6 accidents involving flap full down resulted in a steep takeoff climb and excessive pitch attitude followed by a stall. The position of the control lock suggests it may have been in the locked position during the takeoff. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The DHC-6 Twin Otter, C-GKBM, was under contract to the U.S. Forest Service. It was to be repositioned to John Day, OR to pick up passengers. At 11:35 PDT, the pilot checked in with John Day Dispatch and transmitted his expected time of arrival would be 12:15 PDT. About 11:40 the aircraft contacted three trees with the right wing at the 5,000-foot level of Battle Creek Mountain. This impact separated the wing into three sections before the aircraft "exited" over the mountain edge. The final impact site was on this ridgeline with the aircraft coming to final rest in a steep canyon to the east. There was a high mountain further east on the flight path that also needed to be crossed before a descent to John Day, Oregon could be commenced. The pilot's medical records indicated the he had been having medical problems, some of which he did not want brought to the attention of the Medical Doctor (MD) designated by the FAA to do flight physicals. In addition, he did not tell his supervisor that he was having medical problems. It was noted that he had complaints of chronic muscular neck pains, back problems, falling asleep, allergy problems, numbness in the top of his feet, feeling tired and run down, and pain in his legs. The flight track showed a gradual descent of about 400 feet per minute. He was off course to the right for about five minutes before impacting with trees. This flight tract strongly supported a very high probability of sleep-induced unconsciousness.

The captain, who was flying the Twin Otter from the right seat, entered a right hand traffic pattern for landing. A left quartering, 15 knot headwind, was gusting across the airport. Upon turning to the final approach the captain reduced the aircraft's engine power to the low speed range for the visual approach. As the aircraft neared the runway the rate of descent accelerated. The captain's application of full engine power failed to arrest the aircraft's rate of descent and the aircraft impacted the ground short of the runway. All 16 occupants were injured.

During the final approach on the instrument landing system, the pilot descended below the glidepath. The aircraft collided with a tree and struck the ground short of the runway threshold. The pilot was seriously injured.

After takeoff from Samarinda, while climbing, the twin engine airplane went out of control, entered a dive and crashed in the sea few km offshore. All 17 occupants were killed.

While approaching El Poleo, the crew encountered limited visibility due to poor weather conditions. On final, the aircraft was too low and struck the top of a hill located few km from the landing area. Both pilots were killed while all seven passengers were rescued.

The float equipped aircraft landed hard at Maudsley Lake and bounced. The captain initiated a go-around when the aircraft struck trees and crashed. All nine occupants were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Crashed in unknown circumstances while on approach to Ilaga Airport. Seven occupants were killed and 23 others were injured.

On final approach in poor weather conditions, the aircraft struck trees, stalled and crashed in the jungle few km from the airport. All eight occupants were killed.