Gifford Aviation de Havilland DHC-6-200 accident
de Havilland DHC-6-200 · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
From C · Bethel, AK to C · Hooper Bay, AK
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA82AA022
- 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-6-200
- 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
- N103AQ
- Operator
- Gifford Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From C · Bethel, AKTo C · 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall
- 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 › Aircraft weight and balance, exceeded
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Hooper Bay, AK, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
AT 0833 ADT, THE ACFT DEPARTED BETHEL, AK ON A SCHEDULED PAX/CARGO COMMUTER FLT TO CHEVAK, SCAMMON BAY & HOOPER BAY, AK. THE OPERATOR'S COMMUTER FLTS HAD NOT LANDED AT SCAMMON BAY FOR SVRL DAYS SINCE THE RWY WAS SOFT & MUDDY FROM MELTINGSNOW. BFR DEPARTING CHEVAK, 902 LBS OF MAIL & BAGGAGE WAS PLACED IN THE AFT BAGGAGE COMPARTMENT. ALSO, 2 PAX'S WERE ASKED TO SIT IN THE MOST AFT SEATS "TO LIGHTEN THE NOSE." AT SCAMMON BAY, THE UNEVENTFUL LNDG WAS MADE FROM A SHALLOW APCH WITH HI PWR. AFTER LANDING, 278 LBS OF MAIL WAS REMOVED FROM THE NOSE COMPARTMENT, LEAVING IT EMPTY, & 191 LBS OF CARGO WAS REMOVED FROM THE CABIN. THIS WAS DONE WITH 1 ENG RUNNING, NO OTR LOAD CHGS WERE MADE BFR TKOF. THE PAX RPRTD THAT DRG APCH TO HOOPER BAY, THE PWR WAS REDUCED ON A SOMEWHAT STEEPER APCH & THE SQUARE (FLAP) HNDL WAS MVD. THEY RPRTDTHAT SOON THEREAFTER, THE NOSE PITCHED UP & STALL WRNG SOUNDED. THE PLANE CRASHED APRX 1320 FT SHORT OF RWY 13. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE CG WAS APRX 7.7% BHND THE MAX AFT LMT. NO PREIMPACT, MECHANICAL FAILURE WAS FOUND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA82AA022
- Event ID
- 20020917X03101
- Case number
- DCA82AA022
- 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: 6384d80b0da42d5cadd8f0ac9817d425a90c56021df3af30e52e83c0743f59b5; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:10:00.164Z.