Dehavilland DHC-2 MK.I accident near Ketchikan, AK
On August 5, 2021, a Dehavilland DHC-2 MK.I (airplane) was involved in an accident near Ketchikan, AK. 6 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 5, 2021
- Place
- Ketchikan, AK
- Aircraft
- Dehavilland DHC-2 MK.I · Airplane
- Injuries
- 6 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 55.483°N, 131.225°W
- NTSB ID
- 20210806103647
Official records · ANC21FA069
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
Air traffic control records
- Air Traffic Control Factual Report: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
- Air Traffic Control Factual Report Attachment 1: Document (PDF), on ntsb.gov
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn August 5, 2021, about 1050 Alaska daylight time, a DeHavilland DHC-2 (Beaver), N1249K, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Ketchikan, Alaska. The airline transport pilot and five passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was operated by Southeast Aviation, LLC, as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 on-demand sightseeing flight. The pilot began his assigned duty day about 0600 on the morning of the accident. He was scheduled to complete two flights into the Misty Fjords and another flight to pick up passengers and cargo in Hyder, Alaska. About 0630, he reviewed weather information with the owner of the company using Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) weather cameras, ForeFlight, and the Windy website, concluding that the weather was decent. Before picking up the passengers for the first flight into the Misty Fjords, they rechecked the weather and confirmed that “the weather looked good.” An airplane fueler noted that the pilot performed a preflight inspection of the airplane and then asked the fueler to fill the front fuel tank to capacity (35 gallons) and the center tank to 20 gallons of fuel. The pilot departed from Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base (5KE), Ketchikan, Alaska, on the first passenger flight of the day about 0752, and returned to the dock about 0921. According to passengers on the first flight, in the final few minutes of the flight while approaching Ketchikan, the cloud ceiling was dropping, the sky was full of clouds and fog, and the pilot was “ducking” around to avoid clouds. Between the first an
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to continue visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), which resulted in controlled flight into terrain. Contributing to the accident was the FAA’s reliance on voluntary compliance with the Ketchikan Operator’s Letter of Agreement.
More accidents in AK
- Beech 1900C, Nov 23, 1987
- Textron Aviation Inc 208B, Feb 6, 2025
- Dehavilland DHC-3, Jul 7, 2013
- Cessna 208, Oct 10, 2001
- Dehavilland DHC-3, Jun 25, 2015
Browse: Alaska · Dehavilland 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.
