Alaska

The destination camp is located about 50 miles southwest of the departure lodge, and is separated by mountains with some peaks over 4,000 feet asl. The general area weather included low ceilings. The operator stated that shortly before the accident he observed the youth creek weather 'better than 400 feet...', and told the pilot that it appeared good enough to make the flight. The pilot stated that as he flew up youth creek he could see that the pass was closed by low clouds and attempted to reverse direction. The pilot stated he 'made a hard steep turn, and the airplane stalled...' the pilot said the weather was about 800 feet ceiling and visibility of 1 mile. When the pilot was admitted into the hospital immediately following the accident, he was diagnosed as having an insulin dependent diabetic condition. His medical records contain no evidence of, and the pilot denied any knowledge of, any pre-accident diabetic condition. Five passengers were killed while the pilot and a passenger were seriously injured. A day later, the survivor passenger died from his injuries.

The crash occurred at the 1,100 foot level of a mountainside while the airplane was flying a course roughly parallel to the mountain range. Marginal weather conditions were reported for the area. The pilot's 22-year-old son stated that in those type weather conditions his father would routinely climb up into the soup. Set a loran course for home, and sit back and relax. When close to home he would descend to vfr conditions over the flat coastal area and land. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The airplane was in cruise flight when the pilot noticed a slight fire smell. The engine began to lose power slowly and would not respond to engine control inputs. The pilot landed on a gravel bar and had to extinguish the fire in the engine accessory case with the fire extinguisher and dirt. The airplane has not been recovered and the engine has not been examined.

The pilot bent down to retrieve the fire extinguisher between his feet and to replace it in the bracket located under the pilot's seat. When he looked up he saw a hill in front of the airplane. He pulled up and the airplane struck the hill but continued to fly. He pulled back on the yoke and added full power and the airplane entered the clouds. He noticed he was about to stall the airplane so he lowered the nose and the airplane immediately struck the hill again and nosed over.

The airplane rolled 200-300 feet before becoming airborne in a very nose high attitude. It maintained this attitude, made a right, then a left bank, and fell to the ground in a nose high attitude. The cargo consisted of eight 55-gallons drums of fuel, laid on their side and secured by one cargo strap running fore and aft and another cargo strap running diagonally across the barrels. The tie down ring ultimate strength rating was 1,600 pounds. The weight of the cargo was 2,863 pounds. Three of the cargo hooks associated with the cargo straps were found still attached to the tie down rings, and one hook and tie down ring were not located. Post-impact fire destroyed the cargo straps, and the barrels were strewn randomly through the cabin/cargo area. According to the manufacturer, the davis tie down ring installation is not approved by the manufacturer. The modification should have been accomplished under a supplemental type certificate. The logbooks showed only an entry. The certificated max gross weight was calculated to have been exceeded by 324.8 lbs. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The airplane became missing while on an IFR flight in instrument conditions from Yakutat, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska. There was not further radio communication with the airplane after the pilot reported level at his assigned altitude of 12,000 feet msl. After listening to FAA air traffic control tapes of communications with the pilot, his wife stated that several minutes after the point which the FAA said was the last transmission from the pilot, she heard her husband say something about '6,000' and 'icing conditions'. An enhancement examination of the tapes by the FBI laboratory failed to confirm this information. Aircraft damage and occupant injuries are presumed.

The heavily loaded fuel tanker landed with an approximate 3 knot tailwind, overran the departure end of the runway, and came to a stop on a frozen river. The last two thirds of the 3,150 feet long gravel runway was covered with ice. The crew stated that the propellers either failed to go into reverse, or were slow in reversing, to assist in stopping. Examination revealed that all propeller blades were in the reversed position. Outside air temperature was minus 30 to minus 35° F. The airplane performance chart used to calculate the landing distance was for 'concrete runways'. Stopping distance was not predicated on the use of reverse propeller thrust. Post accident calculations, using the same chart, found the estimated landing distance needed for the accident flight to be 100 to 200 feet more than the length of the runway.

The wreckage was located on the northeast side of halfway mountain heading approximately 270° at the 1,600 foot level. The accident site is located within two miles of the initial approach fix for the localizer/dme runway 16 approach at McGrath. The mea for the dme arc is listed as 3,600 feet above mean sea level. The sector obstruction clearance altitude is listed as 3,100 feet above mean sea level. Weather for the area, airmet sierra, indicated that mountain tops would be obscured and that ceilings would occasionally be 1,500 feet broken. There were reports of snow showers in the area of sufficient intensity that would not allow the search aircraft to fly through the snow showers. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The flight was level at 10,000 feet msl in IMC conditions when the controller noticed the airplane take a sharp right turn and descend rapidly. Attempts to contact the flight were negative. Examination of the accident showed all the major components present, however, impact damage precluded any flight control continuity check. The engines could not be recovered from the impact crater. The accident site was not accessible with specialized equipment. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Approximately 3/4 of an hour after departing for Wrangell, Alaska, the pilot of the regularly scheduled commuter flight contacted company dispatch approximately 30 miles from Ketchikan, and reported that he was returning due to weather. Shortly thereafter, the pilot communicated with another company pilot flying in the same vicinity and both pilots described the weather at their respective locations as 'marginal'. Weather conditions at the Ketchikan International Airport (18 nautical miles from the crash site) at the time of the accident were characterized by low ceilings, multiple cloud layers and reduced (3 mile) visibilities with light rain. The aircraft collided with trees/rising terrain at 800 feet msl while in a near level flight path headed east southeast. Right wingtip impact signatures indicated a very shallow right wing down/nose up attitude at the initial tree impacts. All four occupants were killed.