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| Date: | Tuesday 15 January 2008 |
| Time: | 14:39 LT |
| Type: |  Cessna 208B Grand Caravan |
| Owner/operator: | Grant Aviation |
| Registration: | N454SF |
| MSN: | 208B0797 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1999 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 8612 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 5 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Bethel, Alaska -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Sheldon SPB, AK (SXP) |
| Bethel Airport, AK (BET/PABE) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The airline transport pilot was planning to land on an asphalt runway that had localized drifting and blowing snow. Instead, the airplane touched down in a snow-covered area of the airport between the runway and the adjacent taxiway. The pilot said that blowing snow and flat lighting conditions contributed to his difficulty in discerning the correct location of the runway. He said he "aimed for the darker area between the runway and the taxiway, believing this was the runway." The director of operations for the operator said that the depression between the runway and the taxiway had been filled with snow by runway maintenance personnel during snow removal operations. He indicated that the area had the illusion of a hard surface, but landing during reduced visibility due to blowing snow required the pilot to take advantage of any and all available resources, such as requesting the activation of the runway lights, and/or using the instrument landing system (ILS) localizer as a means of aligning the airplane with the centerline of the runway.
Probable Cause: The pilot's selection of unsuitable terrain for landing. Contributing to the accident were snow-covered terrain, blowing snow and flat lighting conditions.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB ANC08LA031
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 24 February 2002 | N454SF | Grant Aviation | 0 | Tununak, Alaska | |
sub |
| 13 December 2005 | N454SF | Grant Aviation | 0 | Newtok, Alaska | |
sub |
| Runway excursion | ||||||
| 4 February 2020 | N454SF | Grant Aviation | 0 | Hooper Bay Airport, AK (HPB) | |
sub |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Oct-2022 09:29 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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