De Havilland DHC-3T N606KA

Summary

On 1 June 2006 at about 15:30 local time, a De Havilland DHC-3T registered N606KA was involved in an accident near Port Townsend, Washington, United States. 11 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 June 2006 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Port Townsend, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.1969, -123.3264

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-3T

Registration

N606KA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Seattle → Victoria

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA06LA112

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's misjudgment of the airplane's height above the water during a precautionary landing which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing factors were glassy water conditions, fog, and the pilot's inadvertent VFR flight into IMC.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was on a company activated visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan over ocean water. The pilot said the weather conditions deteriorated with a lowering ceiling and visibility. He said that the water condition was glassy smooth with no visual definition, and this condition made it increasingly difficult to be sure he was maintaining forward visibility. He began to turn back to better VFR conditions, but conditions worsened; he believed that he inadvertently entered a fog bank. He elected to perform a precautionary landing on the water. He said that with no visual definition, he misjudged his altitude, and landed hard. The airplane's fuselage was bent/deformed, the fuselage skin was wrinkled, and the dorsal stabilizer was bent/wrinkled. At 0655, the weather conditions approximately 14 nautical miles north of the precautionary landing site were: wind calm; visibility 7 statute miles with shallow fog; cloud condition 900 feet scattered, 2,000 feet scattered, 5,000 feet broken and 20,000 feet broken; temperature 55 degrees Fahrenheit; dew point 54 degrees Fahrenheit; altimeter setting 29.95 inches. The pilot reported that at the time of the attempted landing, the visibility was zero, the wind condition was zero, and the ceiling was zero.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.