What happened
A single-engine aircraft departed from Anchorage as part of an on-demand charter service. The flight was transporting one pilot and four passengers over the Denall National Park region. During the flight, while operating at altitudes ranging between 8,000 and 13,000 feet near a circular box canyon, the aircraft entered a canyon area that was not clearly visible. The plane subsequently struck mountain peaks that were hidden by cloud cover, leading to a crash. Search efforts located the wreckage several hours after the impact. There were five fatalities in the accident.
Findings
Investigations into the accident identified several contributing elements to the crash. The primary factor was a controlled collision with terrain resulting from poor decision-making by the pilot during the flight. Specific contributing factors included:
- The pilot's failure to properly judge altitude, speed, distance, or available clearance
- Navigating into a canyon that was obscured from view
- Presence of high density altitude conditions
- Mountain peaks being hidden by cloud layers