Date & Time:
Jul 21, 1980 at 1702 LT
Type of aircraft:
Cessna 404 Titan
Operator:
Registration:
N2683S
Flight Phase:
Takeoff (climb)
Flight Type:
Scheduled Revenue Flight
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Grand Canyon - Phoenix
MSN:
404-0606
YOM:
1979
Flight number:
YR306
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
1
Pax on board:
7
Pax fatalities:
7
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
8
Captain / Total hours on type:
323
Aircraft flight hours:
718
Circumstances:
At 1702, Scenic Airlines flight 306, a Cessna 404, VFR commuter flight to Phoenix, crashed approximately three miles south of runway 21 after takeoff from the Grand Canyon National Park Airport. The aircraft cut a swath through a densely wooded area on a magnetic heading of 165° and came to rest upright about 230 feet from the initial point of impact with trees. Impact forces and an intense fire destroyed the aircraft. The pilot and six of the seven passengers were killed in the accident. One passenger survived the accident but died five days later as a result of thermal injuries.
Probable cause:
The probable cause of the accident was a substantial loss of power from the left engine at a critical point in the takeoff an the failure of the pilot to establish a minimum drag configuration which degraded the marginal single-engine climb performance of the aircraft. The loss of power resulted from the seizure of the turbocharger following a progressive failure of the turbine wheel blades initiated by foreign object ingestion which had occurred previous to this flight and was not detected during maintenance on the engine 4 days before the accident.
Final Report:
N2683S.pdf3.7 MB
