De Havilland DHC-2 N906JS

Summary

On 8 July 2012 at about 03:06 local time, a De Havilland DHC-2 registered N906JS, operated by Fly Denali, Inc, was involved in an accident near Cantwell, Alaska, United States. 8 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

8 July 2012 at 03:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Cantwell, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

63.2311, -149.3747

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC-2

Registration

N906JS

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Fly Denali, Inc

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Healy → Healy

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC12CA070

Nobody was injured.

The right seat passenger’s inadvertent contact with the emergency fuel shutoff valve, which resulted in fuel starvation and a total loss of engine power. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to provide a thorough preflight briefing to the passenger seated in the cockpit.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated that during cruise flight, the engine suddenly lost all power. He attempted to restart the engine but was unable and elected to make a forced landing in a bog. During the landing, the left wing and right elevator stuck trees, sustaining substantial damage. After the forced landing, the pilot noticed that the emergency fuel shutoff lever on the right side of the center console had been moved toward the shutoff position. The passenger who was seated in the right seat of the cockpit stated that he was unaware of the fuel shutoff lever and was not briefed on specific areas to be aware of in the cockpit but that he had been adjusting himself in the seat just prior to the engine shutting down.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.