Date:	Tuesday 8 August 1989
Time:	10:35
Type:	Britten-Norman BN-2A-26 Islander
Owner/operator:	Aspiring Air
Registration:	ZK-EVK
MSN:	583
Year of manufacture:	1977
Total airframe hrs:	8350 hours
Engine model:	Lycoming O-540-E4C5
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Upper Dart Valley -   New Zealand
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Wanaka Airport (WKA/NZWF)
Destination airport:	Milford Sound Airport (MFN/NZMF)
Investigating agency:	TAIC
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

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."

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

Date/time	Contributor	Updates