MarkAir Express de Havilland DHC-6 accident
de Havilland DHC-6 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Hooper Bay Airport (HPB)
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC92LA010
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
de Havilland DHC-6
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-6
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N724CA
- Operator
- MarkAir Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Hooper Bay Airport (HPB), Hooper Bay, AK
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, not possible
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Weather condition › Crosswind
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE CAPTAIN ELECTED TO TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 14 AT CHEVAK. ACCORDING TO THE FIRST OFFICER, THE STATION MANAGER, AND THE DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS THE WIND WAS BLOWING 090 TO 100 DEGREES AT 35 TO 40 KNOTS. THE CAPTAIN STATED THE WIND WAS FROM 060 TO 090 DEGREES AT 22 TO 25 KNOTS GUSTING TO 35 KNOTS. THE CAPTAIN ELECTED TO USE 20 DEGREES OF FLAP FOR TAKEOFF, HOWEVER, THE FLIGHT MANUAL RECOMMENDS THAT ONLY 10 DEGREES OF FLAP BE USED FOR A CROSSWIND TAKEOFF. THE FLIGHT MANUAL STATES THAT THE DEMONSTRATED CROSSWIND COMPONENT FOR THIS AIRPLANE WAS 20 KNOTS BUT IS NOT A LIMITING FACTOR. THE CAPTAIN PERFORMED THE TAKEOFF AND UPON LIFT OFF THE AIRPLANE WEATHER VANED AND BEGAN TO DRIFT TO THE RIGHT. SIMULTANEOUSLY THE LEFT WING ROSE INTO THE AIR AND THE RIGHT WING DRAGGED THE GROUND. ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS OTHER COMPANY FLIGHTS IN THE AREA CANCELED THEIR FLIGHTS EARLIER DUE TO HIGH WINDS.
Probable cause
THE HIGH CROSSWIND CONDITION, THE PILOT IN COMMANDS INABILITY TO COMPENSATE FOR THE WIND CONDITIONS, AND HIS FAILURE TO FOLLOW COMPANY PROCEDURES AND THE PROCEDURES RECOMMENDED IN THE AIRCRAFT FLIGHT MANUAL. FACTOR RELATING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE CAPTAIN'S OVERCONFIDENCE IN HIS PERSONAL ABILITY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC92LA010
- Event ID
- 20001212X18228
- Case number
- ANC92LA010
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: d16f35f247b3b4ce98d6da10deb2974b5ea149d1beb886dee8575862e4569eef; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:50:57.564Z.