De Havilland DHC-2 N144Q

Summary

On 20 September 2002 at about 16:15 local time, a De Havilland DHC-2 registered N144Q, operated by Ptarmigan Air, was involved in an accident near Bethel, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 September 2002 at 16:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Bethel, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

60.7667, -161.8411

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-2

Registration

N144Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Ptarmigan Air

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bethel → Bethel

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dawn

NTSB number

ANC02LA123

Nobody was injured.

The instructor pilot's inadequate preflight by his failure to remove all frost from the wings prior to takeoff, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and in-flight collision with terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The certificated flight instructor, seated in the right seat, reported that he was providing flight instruction/familiarization training a commercial pilot, seated in the left seat, in a float-equipped airplane. The instructor added that the accident flight was the first flight of the day. He said that just after takeoff, as the airplane climbed to about 50 feet above the water, the airplane began to buffet, and the right wing dropped. The airplane descended and subsequently struck an area of tundra-covered marshy terrain. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage. The instructor reported that a postaccident inspection of the airplane revealed an accumulation of frost on the wings.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.