Grumman G-44 accident at Near Pelican City, Alaska, 4 Nov 1954

Accident narrative

On November 4, 1954, an Alaska Coastal Airlines Grumman G-44 amphibian, registration N67794, crashed in a mountain pass a few minutes after a 1305 takeoff from Pelican City, Alaska. Operating as scheduled Flight 60, the aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire. The pilot was fatally injured, and the two passengers survived with serious injuries.

**The flight**

Flight 60 originated in Sitka, Alaska, with scheduled stops at Pelican City, Hoonah, and its destination of Juneau. Before departing Sitka at 1153, the pilot and the station manager reviewed weather sequences, and the flight was cleared to proceed under Defense Visual Flight Rules (DVFR). The pilot, Captain James C. Rinehart, had approximately 14,000 pilot hours, including about 600 in the Grumman G-44, and roughly 20 years of professional flying experience in Alaska.

The flight landed uneventfully at Pelican City at 1235. Two of the four passengers deplaned, and cargo and baggage were exchanged. The aircraft departed for Hoonah at 1305 without refueling. This takeoff report was the flight's last radio contact.

**The sequence of events**

The survivors stated that after takeoff, the flight proceeded southeast up Lisianski Inlet for about 11 miles before turning left into a mountain pass near Soloma Point. The 10-mile pass winds between mountain ridges rising to approximately 3,000 feet. Its floor rises rapidly from the inlet to a summit at the 1,500-foot level before sloping down toward Tenakee Inlet.

According to the passengers, the mountain sides were visible, but clouds covered the tops and extended about halfway down the slopes. As the flight proceeded up the pass, it encountered rain, fog, and turbulence.

Near the summit, the pilot successfully negotiated a 90-degree right bend. Almost immediately, he had to make a left turn for a second sharp bend where the pass is about one-half mile wide. The survivors reported that during this moderate to steeply banked left turn, the aircraft encountered a downdraft, dropped, struck the ground on its left wing tip, and cartwheeled. Both passengers were momentarily knocked unconscious but escaped through a break in the fuselage before fire consumed the wreckage. The pilot was extricated but died about three hours later.

**What the investigation found**

The wreckage was located at the 1,500-foot level in an open area about one-fourth mile south of the pass summit. Gouges in the earth indicated the left wing float and tip struck the ground while the aircraft was on a west heading in a moderate to steep left bank. The landing gear and flaps were retracted, and both propellers were in maximum low pitch, indicating considerable power was being developed. Investigators found no evidence of airframe, engine, or propeller malfunction prior to impact.

The U.S. Weather Bureau advised that conditions in the area likely included sharply reduced ceilings and visibility along higher ridges in rain and fog, with strong gusty easterly winds and turbulence through the passes. A hunter on the eastern slopes reported dense fog filling the pass at the 1,500-foot level.

The Alaska Coastal Airlines operations manual specified that flights crossing this overland route must be made at an altitude of 3,000 feet. All company aircraft of this weight were restricted to DVFR flight. An alternate overwater route around the north end of Chichagof Island was available, and weather there appeared satisfactory for VFR flight. The Board noted that the pass route saved about ten minutes of flying time, which might have been a consideration.

The Board observed that the cloud base was lower than the prescribed 3,000-foot altitude, forming a tunnel that was almost blocked by near-zero ceiling and visibility at the summit. The wreckage location near the second bend and the aircraft's west heading indicated the pilot had started to negotiate the bend when weather conditions made it necessary to reverse course.

Study of the ground gouges and wreckage demonstrated that the aircraft struck the ground in a high rate of sink, indicating a left slip before impact. The Board believed this was probably due to encountering severe turbulence while in the steep left turn, resulting in an abrupt, uncontrolled loss of altitude. The Board concluded that the pilot demonstrated questionable judgment and failed to abide by company safety procedures by pressing into prohibitive weather conditions.

**Probable cause**

The Civil Aeronautics Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was "loss of control of the aircraft during a steep turn in severe turbulence while the pilot was attempting to conduct visual flight at less than the required altitude and weather minimums."