Cessna 185 accident near Hulahula River, AK
On August 30, 1993, a Cessna 185 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Hulahula River, AK. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 30, 1993
- Place
- Hulahula River, AK
- Aircraft
- Cessna 185 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 66.559°N, 145.251°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001211X13051
NTSB summary
On August 29, 1993, at approximately 1725 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna 185 airplane, N70087, operated by Yukon Air Service of Fort Yukon, Alaska, collided with the terrain near the 7000 foot level of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. The accident site was near the headwaters of the Hulahula and the Sheenjuk rivers, ll0 miles southeast of Deadhorse on the Arctic Ocean. The commercial pilot, sole occupant and operator of Yukon Air Service, a CFR Part 135 on-demand air carrier, was fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed. The airplane had departed Fort Yukon on a VFR flight plan and carried passengers to a remote camp on the Upper Colleen River, at 68 05 04N, 144 57 18W. The airplane was reported to have departed that camp at 1600. At 1715, it passed another camp on the Upper Sheenjuk River and radioed a message to guide Joe Want about the flight progress. Mr. Want recalled the pilot to have said, "it didn't look good ahead, (and) if I don't make it (through the pass to the Hulahula River headwaters), I'll come back. No other communications with the accident airplane are known. The destination was a gravel bar known as Grasser's Strip at 69 05N, 145 33W. Mr. Want reported the weather in the area on the day of the accident to be visual meteorological conditions with mountain top obscuration in clouds at about the 7000 foot level. The airplane was missing for 8 days and was the subject of an extensive air search. The accident site was located by a Canning Air Cessna 185, on a snowfield in a 20 degree upward sloping ravine leading to the 7000 foot pass.
Probable cause
THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S ATTEMPTED VFR FLIGHT INTO IMC CONDITIONS. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE HIGH TERRAIN AND THE OBSCURATION.
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Browse: Alaska · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
