Wien Air Alaska Flight 99

Wien Air Alaska: Flight 99
	Fairchild F-27 aircraft
Accident
Date	30 August 1975; 1:57 pm BDT
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain in fog, pilot error
Site	Sevuokuk Mountain, near Gambell Airport, Gambell, Alaska, United States ; 63°45′54″N 171°42′29″W / 63.765°N 171.708°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Fairchild F-27B
Operator	Wien Air Alaska
Registration	N4904
Flight origin	Nome Airport, Nome, Alaska
1st stopover	Savoonga Airport, Savoonga, Alaska
Destination	Gambell Airport, Gambell, Alaska
Occupants	32
Passengers	28
Crew	4
Fatalities	10
Injuries	22
Survivors	22

Gambell

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Location in Alaska

Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight in Alaska to St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. On approach to Gambell on 30 August 1975, it crashed into Sevuokuk Mountain, east of the airport's runway. Of the 32 on board, ten were killed, including the captain and first officer. The Fairchild F-27B aircraft was operated by Wien Air Alaska.

Flight

Flight 99 originated in Nome on Saturday, August 30, 1975, bound for Savoonga and Gambell. Captain William C. Arant (39), who had 6,607 flying hours prior to the journey, and First Officer Gerald W. Schaefer (28) who had 2,738 flight hours were on board. The flight from Nome to Savoonga was uneventful, and the plane departed Savoonga for Gambell at 1:27 pm Bering daylight time.^[1] As Gambell did not have a control tower, the Wien agent at Gambell, upon hearing the plane radio its departure from Savoonga, turned on the non-directional beacon at Gambell to aid the flight's crew in navigation.

Fog was prevalent in the Gambell area, and the crew discussed strategies to land at the airport. After several missed approaches, the plane flew north over the community, and turned east, and then south to make one final pass. The plane passed over Troutman Lake east of Gambell, and turned south, before impacting Sevuokuk Mountain at an elevation of 424 feet (130 m).^[1]

After impact, the plane broke apart and was propelled up the mountain approximately 132 feet (40 m), coming to rest inverted. A fire broke out, and the residents of the village came to aid,^[2]^[3] attempting to put the fire out with hand-held extinguishers.^[1] All but one of the injured passengers were able to escape the wreckage. Most of the injured or killed passengers were natives of Nome, Gambell, or Savoonga.^[4]

Cause

The cause of the crash, according to the NTSB, was improper IFR (Instrument flight rules) operation, failing to adhere to instrument approach procedures. The airplane collided with a mountain on a missed approach to landing, after multiple missed approaches. The weather at the airport was unsafe for landing, with a low ceiling and sea fog.^[1]^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Aircraft Accident Report - Wien Air Alaska, Inc. Fairchild F-27B, N4904, Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, August 30, 1975" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 7 January 1976. NTSB-AAR-76-1. - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
^ "Propjet crashes in Alaska". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. 31 August 1975. p. 2A.
^ "Eskimo villagers rescue crash survivors". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. 1 September 1975. p. 2A.
^ Beitler, Stu (2 September 1975). "Gambell, AK Airliner Crashes into hillside". Fairbanks News-Miner. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
^ "NTSB Identification: DCA76AZ004". www.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. DCA76AZ004. Retrieved 16 January 2022.

External links

Accident Description at the Aviation Safety Network

[ntsb1-1] "Aircraft Accident Report - Wien Air Alaska, Inc. Fairchild F-27B, N4904, Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, August 30, 1975" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 7 January 1976. NTSB-AAR-76-1. - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

[pcinak-2] "Propjet crashes in Alaska". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. 31 August 1975. p. 2A.

[lmtevrcsv-3] "Eskimo villagers rescue crash survivors". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. 1 September 1975. p. 2A.

[4] Beitler, Stu (2 September 1975). "Gambell, AK Airliner Crashes into hillside". Fairbanks News-Miner. Retrieved 16 January 2022.

[5] "NTSB Identification: DCA76AZ004". www.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. DCA76AZ004. Retrieved 16 January 2022.

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
1970	Cornfield Bomber (February 1970) Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 (March 1970) ALM Flight 980 (May 1970)* Trans International Airlines Flight 863 (September 1970) Wichita State University football team plane crash (October 1970) Southern Airways Flight 932 (November 14 1970) Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26 (November 27 1970)
1971	B-52C Lake Michigan crash (January 1971) Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash (May 1971) Hughes Airwest Flight 706 (June 6 1971) Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 (June 7 1971) Pan Am Flight 845 (July 1971) Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 (September 1971) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 (See D. B. Cooper, November 1971)
1972	Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 (March 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 (May 1972) American Airlines Flight 96 (June 12 1972) Prinair Flight 191 (June 24 1972)* Lake Winnebago mid-air collision (June 29 1972) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 (July 5 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 841 (July 31 1972) Sacramento Canadair Sabre accident (September 1972) Southern Airways Flight 49 (November 1972) United Air Lines Flight 553 (December 10 1972) Chicago–O'Hare runway collision (December 20 1972) Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (December 29 1972) Puerto Rico DC-7 crash (December 31 1972)*
1973	DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash (February 1973) Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 (July 23 1973) Delta Air Lines Flight 723 (July 31 1973) TWA Flight 742 (August 1973) World Airways Flight 802 (September 8 1973) Texas International Airlines Flight 655 (September 27 1973) Pan Am Flight 160 (November 3 1973) National Airlines Flight 27 (November 3 1973) Iberia Flight 933 (December 1973)
1974	Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 (January 6 1974) Pan Am Flight 806 (January 30 1974)* Delta Air Lines Flight 523 (February 1974) Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 (September 1974) TWA Flight 514 (December 1 1974) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 (December 1 1974)
1975	Golden West Airlines Flight 261 (Janaury 1975) Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 (June 1975) Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 (August 1975) Overseas National Airways Flight 032 (November 1975)
1976	Alaska Airlines Flight 60 (April 5 1976) American Airlines Flight 625 (April 27 1976)* Air Manila Flight 702 (June 1976) TWA Flight 355 (September 1976)
1977	Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 (January 1977) Southern Airways Flight 242 (April 4 1977) Delta Air Lines Flight 1080 (April 12 1977) Encino helicopter crash (August 1977) Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash (October 1977) Air Indiana Flight 216 (December 13 1977) United Airlines Flight 2860 (December 18 1977) Vieques Air Link crash (December 19 1977)*
1978	Continental Airlines Flight 603 (March 1 1978) United Airlines Flight 696 (March 13 1978) National Airlines Flight 193 (May 1978) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 (September 25 1978) Air Caribbean Flight 309 (September 26 1978)* Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217 (December 4 1978) TWA Flight 541 (December 21 1978) United Airlines Flight 173 (December 28 1978)
1979	TWA Flight 841 (April 1979) American Airlines Flight 191 (May 25 1979) Downeast Airlines Flight 46 (May 30 1979) Air New England Flight 248 (June 17 1979) American Airlines Flight 293 (June 20 1979) American Airlines Flight 444 (November 1979)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that either took place in a U.S. territory, or in adjacent waters thereof. Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 (July 1970) occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands