De Havilland DHC2 N4444Z

Summary

On 2 August 2024 at about 16:24 local time, a De Havilland DHC2 registered N4444Z, operated by Rust's Flying Service , Inc, was involved in an accident near Anchorage, Alaska, United States. 7 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

2 August 2024 at 16:24

Classification

Accident

Location

Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Nearest airport

Lake Hood (PALH)

Coordinates

61.1790, -149.9593

Aircraft

De Havilland DHC2

Registration

N4444Z

Category

Airplane

Year built

1958

Engines

1

Operator

Rust's Flying Service , Inc

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC24LA073

Nobody was injured.

A partial loss of power during takeoff climb for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, as the float-equipped airplane climbed to 200 ft above the water after taking off from a lake, the engine started to sputter, run rough, and began to lose power. Video footage of the accident shows a puff of white smoke coming from the left side of the airplane just before the airplane began to lose altitude. The pilot was able to execute a left turn and land on the lake. The airplane departed the end of the lake onto the bank, the left wing impacted a tree, and the airplane came to rest in an area of brush, which caused substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. The pilot reported that there were 75 gallons of fuel onboard and the fuel selector was set to the center tank for takeoff. The weather conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide power. During engine runup the pilot stated that he placed the carburetor heat lever in the open position and confirmed the carburetor mixture temperature gauge was between 5-8° Celsius. He stated that because he had ample room for departure that he left the carburetor heat in the open position for takeoff. The operator mistakenly thought the airplane had been released to them. Without federal oversight, they accomplished the following: checked the fuel for contaminants, removed and inspected all spark plugs, checked the timing on the magnetos, checked compression of all cylinders, inspected the intake and exhaust valves with a borescope, checked the valve clearances, and inspected the rocker arms and rocker shaft nuts. They reported that everything was found to be within normal limits; the operator then ran the engine. Because the operator conducted invasive inspections and ran the engine without oversight, the NTSB did not examine the airplane on site. The engine was removed, crated, and sent to a facility for further examination. The postaccident examination of the engine conducted by the NTSB found no anomalies that would have prevented normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.