Starflite Cessna 206 accident
Cessna 206 and Aerospatiale AS350D · Accident: midair collision during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC88FA063
- 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
- 4 · 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
Aircraft 1 · Cessna 206
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 206
- 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
- N4882U
- Operator
- Starflite
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dillingham Airport (DLG), Dillingham, AKTo Dillingham Airport (DLG)
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Aircraft 2 · Aerospatiale AS350D
- Aircraft type
- Aerospatiale AS350
- Category
- Helicopter
- 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
- N353EH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dillingham Airport (DLG), Dillingham, AKTo HAGEMEISTER IS, 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A CESSNA 206 AIRPLANE AND AN AEROSPATIALE AS350D HELICOPTER COLLIDED IN MIDAIR ONE-HALF MILE SOUTH OF THE DILLINGHAM AIRPORT, DILLINGHAM AK. BOTH AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN COMMUNICATING WITH THE DILLINGHAM FLIGHT SERVICE STATION AND HAD RECEIVED THE APPROPRIATE FLIGHT ADVISORIES. THE CESSNA WAS PRACTICING LANDINGS, AND HAD JUST DEPARTED RUNWAY 19 WHEN IT WAS STRUCK FROM THE LEFT SIDE AT AN ALTITUDE OF APPROXIMATELY 400' AGL. THE HELICOPTER WAS ON A 14 CFR PART 135 CARGO ONLY FLIGHT, AND WAS IN LEVEL CRUISE OR A SLIGHT CLIMB AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. WITNESSES RELATED THAT NEITHER AIRCRAFT TOOK EVASIVE ACTION PRIOR TO IMPACT. THE HELICOPTER'S MAIN ROTOR HUB AND TAIL BOOM SEPARATED PRIOR TO GROUND IMPACT, AND THE CESSNA'S TAIL SECTION SEPARATED AND RIGHT WING FOLDED PRIOR TO GROUND IMPACT. TAIL ROTOR BLADE STRIKES WERE VISIBLE ON THE BOTTOM AND RIGHT SIDE OF THE CESSNA, AND MAIN ROTOR BLADE STRIKES WERE VISIBLE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FUSELAGE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC88FA063
- Event ID
- 20001213X25587
- Case number
- ANC88FA063
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1988-05-25.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6ed3a3eb21cc2a86b5620bd56608903d761834d7f3879087d41006aa9fb07e88; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:11:16.452Z.