Amateur-built BN-2A-26 ISLANDER accident near Ketchikan, Alaska, August 20, 1991
On August 20, 1991 at about 9:15 pm local time, a amateur-built BN-2A-26 ISLANDER, registered N68HA, was destroyed in an accident near Ketchikan, Alaska (Ketchikan Intnl airport). It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). 4 people were killed. The weather was conditions the NTSB did not record.
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
THE PILOT'S ATTEMPTING TO OPERATE VFR IN INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE UPSLOPING TERRAIN IN THE AIRCRAFT'S FLIGHT PATH AS WELL AS WEATHER CONDITIONS RESULTING IN AN OBSCURATION OF THE TERRAIN.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 20, 1991 · about 9:15 pm local time
- Place
- Ketchikan, Alaska · Ketchikan Intnl · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- 4 people were killed.
- Weather
- conditions the NTSB did not record
- Aircraft
- Amateur-built BN-2A-26 ISLANDER BN-2A-26 I
- Registration
- N68HA · registry record · serial 2009
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
APPROXIMATELY 3/4 OF AN HOUR AFTER DEPARTING FOR WRANGELL, ALASKA, THE PILOT OF THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED COMMUTER FLIGHT CONTACTED COMPANY DISPATCH APPROXIMATELY 30 MILES FROM KETCHIKAN, AND REPORTED THAT HE WAS RETURNING DUE TO WEATHER. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE PILOT COMMUNICATED WITH ANOTHER COMPANY PILOT FLYING IN THE SAME VICINITY AND BOTH PILOTS DESCRIBED THE WEATHER AT THEIR RESPECTIVE LOCATIONS AS 'MARGINAL'. WEATHER CONDITINS AT THE KETCHIKAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (18 NAUTICAL MILES FROM THE CRASH SITE) AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WERE CHARACTERIZED BY LOW CEILINGS, MULTIPLE CLOUD LAYERS AND REDUCED (3 MILE) VISIBILITIES WITH LIGHT RAIN. THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH TREES/RISING TERRAIN AT 800 FEET MSL WHILE IN A NEAR LEVEL FLIGHT PATH HEADED EAST SOUTHEAST. RIGHT WINGTIP IMPACT SIGNATURES INDICATED A VERY SHALLOW RIGHT WING DOWN/NOSE UP ATTITUDE AT THE INITIAL TREE IMPACTS.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; single-engine sea; instructor: airplane multi-engine; instructor: airplane single-engine; instructor: instrument airplane; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 5,107 hours in all; 740 in this make and model; 285 in the last 90 days; 69 in the last 30 days; 4,876 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: left
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 16,395 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, August 13, 1991; 34 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 6,200 lb
- Seats: 10
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Lycoming O-540-E4C5 (piston); 0 hours total
- Fire on the ground
- Operator: Temsco Helicopters, INC.
The flight
- Departed from: KTN Ketchikan AK at 3:25 pm
- Destination: WRG Wrangell AK
- Flight plan: VFR
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 150° at 11 knots
- Visibility: 6 statute miles
- Sky: overcast at 1,200 ft; scat at 500 ft
- Temperature: 57°F (14°C), dew point 55°F (13°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 3:55 pm from KTN, 18 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 3 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.