Cessna U206G accident near Essex, MT
On September 20, 2004, a Cessna U206G (airplane) was involved in an accident near Essex, MT. 3 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 20, 2004
- Place
- Essex, MT
- Aircraft
- Cessna U206G · Airplane
- Injuries
- 3 fatal, 2 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 48.317°N, 113.736°W
- NTSB ID
- 20040930X01543
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On September 20, 2004, approximately 1530 mountain daylight time, a Cessna U206G, N206SM, impacted mountainous terrain while maneuvering about 6 nautical miles northwest of Essex, Montana. The airplane was being operated under contract to the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS) by Edwards Jet Center of Kalispell, Montana, as a public use flight. The purpose of the flight was to transport a forest inventory team from Kalispell to the Schafer USFS Airport, Schafer, Montana. Four USFS employees and an Edwards pilot were on board. The pilot and two USFS employees were killed, and the other two USFS employees sustained serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the airplane's departure at 1500 from Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell. An FAA flight plan was not filed; however, the airplane was receiving flight following services from the USFS. According to USFS personnel, the flight was originally scheduled to depart at 1300. The scheduled departure was delayed from 1300 to 1500 due to weather conditions. The planned route of flight was to follow Highway 2 from Glacier Airport to a point about 3 miles south of the town of Essex, where the highway and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River separate. At this point, the flight was to leave the highway and follow the Middle Fork drainage to Schafer. According to personnel at the Glacier Airport Tower, their last contact with the airplane was at 1508, when the pilot reported that he was through "the canyon" (Badrock Canyon approximately 8 miles northeast of
Probable cause
The pilot's misidentification of the airplane's location, which resulted in his improper decision to fly into the wrong drainage, and his failure to maintain terrain clearance while executing a turn to reverse course after he realized his navigational error. Contributing factors were the low visibility due to mist, obscuration of the mountainous terrain, and the pilot's lack of experience in back
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Browse: Montana · 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.
