Cessna 208B accident near Saint Marys, AK

On November 30, 2013, a Cessna 208B (airplane) was involved in an accident near Saint Marys, AK. 5 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.

Date

November 30, 2013

Place

Saint Marys, AK

Aircraft

Cessna 208B · Airplane

Injuries

5 fatal, 6 serious, 0 minor

Damage

Substantial

Position

62.051°N, 163.269°W

NTSB ID

20131130X23954

Official records · ANC14MA008

• Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation

Air traffic control records

• ATC - ERR373 ADS-B Data: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
• Airplane Radio Frequency Documentation: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov

NTSB summary

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn November 29, 2013, at 1824 Alaska standard time, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan airplane, N12373, sustained substantial damage after impacting terrain about 1 mile southeast of St. Mary's Airport, St. Mary's, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as flight 1453 by Hageland Aviation Services, Inc., dba Era Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, as a visual flight rules (VFR) scheduled commuter flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. Of the 10 people on board, the commercial pilot and three passengers sustained fatal injuries, and six passengers sustained serious injuries. Night, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at St. Mary's Airport at the time of the accident, and company flight-following procedures were in effect. Flight 1453 departed from Bethel Airport, Bethel, Alaska, at 1741 destined for Mountain Village, Alaska. Before reaching Mountain Village, the flight diverted to St. Mary's due to deteriorating weather conditions. The pilot's flight and duty records indicated that, on the day of the accident, the pilot arrived at the company office in St. Mary's about 0800. The accident flight was the pilot's fifth flight of the day. Flight 1453 was to depart Bethel Airport with eight adult passengers and one infant passenger (who was not listed on the flight manifest), make a stop in Mountain Village, and then proceed to St. Mary's. Hageland Aviation Services had recently incorporated a risk assessment program into its operational control procedures, which required each flight be assigned a risk level on a scale of

Probable cause

The pilot's decision to initiate a visual flight rules approach into an area of instrument meteorological conditions at night and the flight coordinators' release of the flight without discussing the risks with the pilot, which resulted in the pilot experiencing a loss of situational awareness and subsequent controlled flight into terrain. Contributing to the accident were the operator's inadequat

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Browse: Alaska · Cessna aircraft

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Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.