Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 8 March 2013 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site | Muklung Hills, 17 miles NE of Dillingham, Alaska |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Beechcraft 1900C-1 |
Operator | ACE Air Cargo |
ICAO flight No. | AER51 |
Call sign | ACE AIR 51 |
Registration | N116AX |
Flight origin | King Salmon Airport, King Salmon, Alaska |
Destination | Dillingham Municipal Airport, Dillingham, Alaska |
Occupants | 2 |
Crew | 2 |
Fatalities | 2 |
Survivors | 0 |
ACE Air Cargo Flight 51 was an Alaska Central Express flight from Anchorage to King Salmon and Dillingham, Alaska. On 8 March 2013, the Beechcraft 1900C-1 serving the flight crashed into a mountain on approach to Dillingham Airport, killing both crew members on board.
The flight had originally taken off from Anchorage International Airport at approximately 5:44 Alaska Standard Time, making a scheduled stop at King Salmon and continuing to Dillingham. En route to Dillingham, the crew requested a RNAV GPS 19 instrument approach, which was granted by the on-duty controller who directed the crew to maintain an altitude at or above 2,000 ft (610 m). Roughly six minutes later, the crew requested permission to enter into a holding pattern to contact the flight service station for a report on the condition of the runway, which was subsequently granted. The controllers later attempted to contact the aircraft, but were unsuccessful and soon lost radar track of the aircraft, which had crashed at Muklung Hills. [1] [2]
The aircraft, a Beechcraft 1900C-1, serial number UC-17 registered N116AX, was manufactured in 1992, and ACE Air Cargo was its only operator, accumulating a total of 29,824 hours before the accident. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65B engines and was equipped for flight into icy conditions, but did not carry a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. [3] [1] [2]
The crew on this flight consisted of only the cockpit crew, 38-year-old Captain Jeff Day and 21-year-old First Officer Neil Jensen with 5,770 flight hours and 470 flight hours, respectively. [1] [4]
The aircraft hit the ground in the Muklung Hills, the same mountainous area where an aircraft carrying nine people crashed in 2010, causing the death of former US Senator Ted Stevens, who was one of the passengers. [5] The rescue operation to reach Flight 51 was carried out by the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska State Troopers, and United States Coast Guard. The first rescue unit to reach the crash site was an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter, which was unable to land or lower rescuers due to poor weather conditions. [4] [5]
The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who concluded that the plane crashed due to the flight crew's failure to maintain terrain clearance, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain in instrument meteorological conditions. [6]
Alaska Central Express is an airline based at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It is a cargo and small package express service.
Alpine Air Express is an American airline based in Provo, Utah, USA. It operates scheduled air cargo services on over 100 routes throughout Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. Its main base is the Provo Municipal Airport. At one point also, Alpine Air Express was a passenger airline.
The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop fixed-wing aircraft that was manufactured by Beechcraft. It was designed, and is primarily used, as a regional airliner. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organisations. With customers favoring larger regional jets, Raytheon ended production in October 2002.
MarkAir was a regional airline based in Anchorage, Alaska, that became a national air carrier operating passenger jet service in the United States with a hub and corporate headquarters located in Denver, Colorado. After a second bankruptcy in 1995, it ceased operations in October and was later liquidated.
Corvus Airlines d.b.a. Ravn Alaska is a regional airline that specializes in serving the small communities in the US state of Alaska. The airline is headquartered in Anchorage, which is also home to its primary hub, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Northern Air Cargo, LLC (NAC) is an American cargo airline based in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. NAC operates a small fleet of Boeing 737-300s and Boeing 737-400 freighter aircraft within the state of Alaska as well as widebody Boeing 767-300 freighter services throughout the Caribbean and South America. Other services include aircraft maintenance services through its subsidiary, Northern Air Maintenance Services, on demand charters and consolidation of cargo. With a main base at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, NAC also operates out of a hub at Miami International Airport. NAC is a division of Saltchuk which is the corporate parent of a number of transportation and distribution companies including Aloha Air Cargo, a cargo airline based in Hawaii.
Colgan Air Flight 9446 was a repositioning flight operated by Colgan Air for US Airways Express. On August 26, 2003, the Beech 1900D crashed into water 100 yards offshore from Yarmouth, Massachusetts shortly after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis. Both pilots were killed.
Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight in Alaska that crashed into Pedro Bay on 2 December 1968, killing all 39 on board. The Fairchild F-27B aircraft was operated by Wien Consolidated Airlines and was en route to Dillingham from Anchorage, with three intermediate stops. The NTSB investigation revealed that the aircraft suffered a structural failure after encountering "severe-to-extreme" air turbulence. The accident was the second-worst accident involving a Fairchild F-27 at the time, and currently the third-worst accident involving the aircraft.
United Express Flight 5925, operated by Great Lakes Airlines with a Beechcraft 1900 twin turboprop, was a regularly scheduled flight from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Quincy, Illinois, with an intermediate stop in Burlington, Iowa.
GP Express Flight 861, from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia to Anniston Metropolitan Airport in Anniston, Alabama, crashed while attempting to land at approximately 8:04 a.m. CDT on June 8, 1992. The Beechcraft Model 99 had four passengers and a crew of two on board. Two passengers and the captain received fatal injuries. All three survivors were seriously injured.
On August 9, 2010, a privately operated amphibious floatplane crashed near Aleknagik, Alaska, killing five of the nine people on board. The fatalities included former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, while the survivors included former Administrator of NASA and then-CEO of EADS North America Sean O'Keefe, his son, and future Deputy Administrator of NASA James Morhard.
On 5 November 2010, JS Air Flight 201, a Beechcraft 1900 passenger aircraft on a charter service from Karachi to the Bhit Shah gas field in Sindh, Pakistan, crashed near Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, after suffering an engine malfunction at take-off. All 21 people on board were killed.
On Friday, January 3, 1992, a Beechcraft 1900 operating CommutAir Flight 4281 crashed into a wooded hillside near Gabriels, New York while conducting an ILS approach to Runway 23 at the Adirondack Regional Airport. The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error. There were two people killed in the crash, and two survivors.
Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 was a scheduled passenger flight on December 1, 1959, between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio with stops in Pennsylvania at Harrisburg, Williamsport, Bradford, and Erie.
Proteus Airlines Flight 706 was a scheduled commuter flight from Lyon, France to Lorient, France. On July 30, 1998 the Beechcraft 1900D operating the flight collided in mid-air with a light aircraft over Quiberon Bay. This accident was known as Quiberon Bay mid-air collision. Both aircraft crashed in the sea, killing fifteen people.
JAL Cargo Flight 8054 was a charter flight on January 13, 1977, from Grant County, Washington, United States to Tokyo, Japan with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. The flight crashed during the initial climb phase, shortly after takeoff from Anchorage due to pilot intoxication.
Alaska Airlines Flight 779 was a contract cargo flight operated on 21 July 1961 by an Alaska Airlines Douglas DC-6A that crashed short of the runway at Shemya Air Force Base with the loss of all six crew members on board.
Pan Am Flight 799 was an international cargo flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cam Ranh Airport in South Vietnam that crashed on December 26, 1968 near Anchorage, Alaska. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 707-321C aircraft operated by Pan American World Airways. All three crew members died in the crash.
Airborne Express Flight 827 was a functional evaluation flight (FEF) of an Airborne Express Douglas DC-8-63F that had undergone a major modification. On December 22, 1996, during the test flight, the aircraft stalled and crashed, killing all six people on board. Accident investigators determined the cause of the accident was improper crew control inputs.
On 23 December 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 084, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, collided during its takeoff roll with SouthCentral Air Flight 59, a Piper PA-31-350, on runway 06L/24R at Anchorage International Airport, as a result of the KAL 084 flight crew becoming disoriented while taxiing in dense fog and attempting to take off on the wrong runway. Both aircraft were destroyed, but no fatalities resulted.