ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 326978
| Date: | Wednesday 18 June 1986 |
| Time: | 09:33 |
| Type: |  de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Vista Liner 300 |
| Owner/operator: | Grand Canyon Airlines |
| Registration: | N76GC |
| MSN: | 248 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1969 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 30569 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20 |
| Other fatalities: | 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Grand Canyon National Park, AZ -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Grand Canyon-National Park Airport, AZ (GCN/KGCN) |
| Grand Canyon-National Park Airport, AZ (GCN/KGCN) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The DHC-6 took off from Grand Canyon-National Park Airport runway 21 at 08:55 for a 50-minute air tour over Grand Canyon National Park. At 09:13 a Helitech Bell 206B JetRanger (N6TC) took off from a heliport near Tusayan for a 30-minute air tour.
Both aircraft collided in the area of the Tonto Plateau, at an altitude of 6500 feet msl. The Bell main rotor blade struck and severed the DHC-6's nosegear. The opposite blade of the Bell struck the aft portion of the fuselage of the DHC-6.
A fuel cell of the Vista Liner was ruptured, creating a vaporous cloud of fuel. The rotor head of the Bell 206 separated and debris from the disintegrating rotor blade struck the left side and tail of the DHC-6. The tail separated, causing the DHC-6 to lose control and pitch over. The aircraft struck the ground in an inverted attitude and the helicopter free-fell to the ground following the rotor blade separation.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of the flight crew of both aircraft to 'see and avoid' each other for undetermined reasons.
Contributing to the accident was the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration to exercise its oversight responsibility over flight operations in the Grand Canyon scenic air tour operators. Also contributing to the accident was the modification and configuration of the routes of the rotary-wing operators resulting in their intersecting with the routes of Grand Canyon Airlines near Crystal Rapids."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
ICAO Circular 245-AN/147
NTSB/AAR-87/03
Location
Images:
photo (c) Bob Garrard; Grand Canyon-National Park Airport, AZ (GCN/KGCN); August 1985
photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Boston-Logan International Airport, MA (BOS); February 1971
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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