Status:	Final
Date:	08 AUG 1989
Time:	10:35
Type:	Britten-Norman BN-2A-26 Islander
Operator:	Aspiring Air
Registration:	ZK-EVK
C/n / msn:	583
First flight:	1977-03-10 (12 years 5 months)
Total airframe hrs:	8350
Engines:	2 Lycoming O-540-E4C5
Crew:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Passengers:	Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
Total:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Upper Dart Valley (New Zealand)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Wanaka Airport (WKA/NZWF), New Zealand
Destination airport:	Milford Sound Airport (MFN/NZMF), New Zealand

Narrative:
Islander ZK-EVK departed from Wanaka on a VFR scenic flight to Milford Sound but failed to arrive. Wreckage from the aircraft was subsequently located on steep snow covered mountainous terrain at elevations up to 5400 feet. Following initial impact, major portions of the aircraft, including the fuselage, had fallen over precipitous bluffs.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The lack of direct evidence to account, operationally or structurally, for the manner in which the aircraft struck the mountain slope, the remoteness of the site which provided no witness observation to describe the aircraft’s flight path prior to the event and the absence of any survivor, combined to preclude a determination of the accident’s probable cause."

Sources:
» Aircraft Accident Report No. 89-066 Britten-Norman BN2A Islander ZK-EVK, collided with terrain, Upper Dart Valley, 8 August 1989