What happened
During an arrival at Kotzebue-Wien Memorial Airport, an aircraft encountered severe weather characterized by whiteout conditions and extremely restricted visibility. While performing what was described as a standard approach, the plane struck the runway without its landing gear deployed. The resulting belly landing caused the aircraft to slide several hundred yards along the surface before finally coming to a stop.
Despite the impact, all 32 occupants were successfully evacuated from the plane. The incident resulted in the aircraft being declared a total loss due to damage sustained during the sliding motion on the runway.
Findings
Investigations into the accident determined that the primary reason for the mishap was that the crew failed to follow the approach checklist, which led to the oversight of not lowering the landing gear prior to touchdown.