SEA82DA106 · Beech A23-19
Beech A23-19 · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing
From Methow Valley State Airport (S52) to Methow Valley State Airport (S52)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA82DA106
- 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
- General aviation
- 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
Beech A23-19
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 23
- 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
- N6907Q
- Operator
- Kenneth Holm & Elbert Downing
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Methow Valley State Airport (S52), WINTHROP, WATo Methow Valley State Airport (S52), WINTHROP, WA
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PURPOSE OF THE FLIGHT WAS FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE SUN WAS LOW ON THE HORIZON WHICH RESULTED IN LONG SHADOWS BEING CAST BY THE TERRAIN. IN THE VICINITY OF HOODOO PEAK, THE PILOT DETERMINED THAT HE HAD ALLOWED THE AIRCRAFT TO ENTER A BOX CANYON. THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT HORIZONTAL SPACE TO TURN AROUND. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO CONTINUE CLIMBING OVER RISING TERRAIN, AND SUBSEQUENTLY, HE LANDED ON RISING, WOODED TERRAIN. THE AIRCRAFT DECELERATED UPON INITIAL IMPACT WITH THE TREES, THEN SETTLED TO THE GROUND ON ITS LEFT SIDE. THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS ABOUT 5500 FT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA82DA106
- Event ID
- 20020917X04111
- Case number
- SEA82DA106
- 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 1982-07-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 2c7dcb47818ea3873a3dce761ebd2842ce6b51aada7524273897c677d0cc4956; retrieved 2026-09-22T02:59:31.183Z.