Cessna U206 accident near Rainy Pass, AK
On September 24, 2018, a Cessna U206 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Rainy Pass, AK. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 24, 2018
- Place
- Rainy Pass, AK
- Aircraft
- Cessna U206 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 62.073°N, 153.185°W
- NTSB ID
- 20180925X01452
Official records · CEN18FA386
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn September 24, 2018, at 1032 Alaska daylight time, a Cessna U206G airplane, N1738R, impacted mountainous terrain about 13 miles west of Rainy Pass Lodge Airport (6AK), Rainy Pass, Alaska. The pilot was fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to Laughlin Acquisitions LLC and was being operated by Regal Air as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on-demand cargo flight. Marginal visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident and no flight plan had been filed. The flight departed Lake Hood Seaplane Base (LHD), Anchorage, Alaska, at 0930 and was en route to a private airstrip on the southwest side of the Alaska Range about 30 miles west of the accident site. The operator reported that the purpose of the flight was to deliver about 400 lbs of lumber to the private airstrip, pick up two passengers, and return to LHD. The Regal Air chief pilot was flying the same flight path in another company Cessna 206 and departed 16 minutes after the accident pilot. He was in radio contact with the pilot throughout the flight and most of the communications were related to the weather conditions and cloud coverage along the route of flight, including that the weather conditions could change rapidly. The chief pilot also heard the accident pilot in radio communication with the owner of Rainy Pass Lodge, but he could only hear the pilot's side of the conversation. The chief pilot lost radio contact with the accident pilot about 1030 and assumed that he had proceeded into Rainy Pass and no longer had line of
Probable cause
The pilot's improper decision to continue the flight in deteriorating weather conditions, which resulted in an inadvertent entry into a box canyon and subsequent controlled flight into mountainous terrain.
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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.
