1986 Grand Canyon mid-air collision

(Redirected from Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6) 1986 fatal aircraft collision

1986 Grand Canyon mid-air collision
Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6 · Helitech Flight 2
Accident
Date	June 18, 1986 (1986-06-18)
Summary	Mid-air collision
Site	Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States
Total fatalities	25
Total survivors	0
First aircraft
A DHC-6 Twin Otter similar to the accident aircraft.
Type	DHC-6 Twin Otter
Operator	Grand Canyon Airlines
Call sign	CANYON 6
Registration	N76GC
Flight origin	Grand Canyon National Park Airport, United States
Destination	Grand Canyon National Park Airport, United States
Occupants	20
Passengers	18
Crew	2
Fatalities	20
Survivors	0
Second aircraft
A Bell 206 similar to the helicopter involved in the collision
Type	Bell 206
Operator	Helitech
Call sign	TECH 2
Registration	N6TC
Flight origin	Tusayan, Arizona, United States
Destination	Tusayan, Arizona, United States
Occupants	5
Passengers	4
Crew	1
Fatalities	5
Survivors	0

The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred when Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, collided with a Bell 206 helicopter, Helitech Flight 2, over Grand Canyon National Park on June 18, 1986. All 25 passengers and crew on board the two aircraft were killed. It remains the deadliest accident involving a helicopter on United States soil, surpassing the crash of Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 in 1968, which killed 23 people.

Collision

On the morning of the accident, Grand Canyon Airlines Canyon 6 took off from Grand Canyon National Park Airport at 8:55 am for a sightseeing flight over Grand Canyon National Park with two pilots and 18 passengers on board; the pilots were operating their second scenic flight for the day. At 9:13 am, Helitech Flight 2 took off from the company's heliport in Tusayan, Arizona, for a 30-minute sightseeing flight. At approximately 9:33, at an altitude of approximately 6,500 feet (2,000 m), the Bell 206 and DHC-6 collided, with the helicopter on the left of the Twin Otter and the two aircraft traveling at approximately right angles to each other. The helicopter's main rotor struck the nose landing gear and tail of the Twin Otter. The Bell 206's main rotor was torn off and disintegrated and the Twin Otter's tail separated, causing both aircraft to crash. All 20 passengers and crew on Canyon 6, and the pilot and four passengers on Tech 2, were killed in the accident.

Cause

The National Transportation Safety Board found that the crews of the two aircraft failed to 'see and avoid' each other, but could not determine why this occurred due to the lack of recorded flight data (there being no requirement for such recording for the scenic flights that were being operated). The accident investigation also found that the limited number of scenic points of interest in the Grand Canyon concentrated flights over these points, increasing the risk of collision; and recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulate the separation of flight routes of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Following the accident, the FAA imposed changes to the operation of scenic flights over the Grand Canyon.

References

"NTSB Identification: DCA86AA028B". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
Emslie, Robert. "The Tale of Los Angeles Airways and the Skycrane". Hooniverse. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
^ National Transportation Safety Board report of investigation into mid-air collision over Grand Canyon National Park

External links

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1986 (1986)
Jan 18 Aerovías Caravelle crashJan 28 VASP Flight 210Jan 31 Aer Lingus Flight 328Feb 16 China Airlines Flight 2265Mar 2 Aeroflot Flight F-77Mar 31 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940Apr 2 TWA Flight 840Apr 5 Ljósufjöll air crashApr 17 Hindawi affairMay 1 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crashMay 3 Air Lanka Flight 512May 3 China Airlines Flight 334Jun 18 Grand Canyon National Park collisionJul 2 Aeroflot Flight 2306Aug 3 LIAT Flight 319Aug 16 Sudan Airways Fokker F-27 shootdownAug 31 Aeroméxico Flight 498Sep 5 Pan Am Flight 73Oct 5 Corporate Air Services HPF821Oct 19 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crashOct 20 Aeroflot Flight 6502Oct 26 Thai Airways International Flight 620Nov 6 British Int'l Helicopters Chinook crashNov 17 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628Dec 12 Aeroflot Flight 892Dec 25 Iraqi Airways Flight 163
1985 ◄ ► 1987

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1986 (1986)

Jan 18 Aerovías Caravelle crashJan 28 VASP Flight 210Jan 31 Aer Lingus Flight 328Feb 16 China Airlines Flight 2265Mar 2 Aeroflot Flight F-77Mar 31 Mexicana de Aviación Flight 940Apr 2 TWA Flight 840Apr 5 Ljósufjöll air crashApr 17 Hindawi affairMay 1 Ilopango Douglas DC-6 crashMay 3 Air Lanka Flight 512May 3 China Airlines Flight 334Jun 18 Grand Canyon National Park collisionJul 2 Aeroflot Flight 2306Aug 3 LIAT Flight 319Aug 16 Sudan Airways Fokker F-27 shootdownAug 31 Aeroméxico Flight 498Sep 5 Pan Am Flight 73Oct 5 Corporate Air Services HPF821Oct 19 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crashOct 20 Aeroflot Flight 6502Oct 26 Thai Airways International Flight 620Nov 6 British Int'l Helicopters Chinook crashNov 17 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628Dec 12 Aeroflot Flight 892Dec 25 Iraqi Airways Flight 163

1985 ◄ ► 1987

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1980s
1980	Air Wisconsin Flight 965 (June 1980)
1981	Eastern Air Lines Flight 935 (September 1981)
1982	Air Florida Flight 90 (January 13 1982) Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash (January 18 1982) World Airways Flight 30 (January 23 1982) Pilgrim Airlines Flight 458 (February 1982) Pan Am Flight 759 (July 9 1982) Twilight Zone accident (July 23 1982) Pan Am Flight 830 (August 1982)
1983	United Airlines Flight 2885 (January 1983) Eastern Air Lines Flight 855 (May 1983) Air Canada Flight 797 (June 2 1983) Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (June 8 1983) Air Illinois Flight 710 (October 1983) Ozark Air Lines Flight 650 (December 20 1983) Anchorage runway collision (December 23 1983)
1984	Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 901 (February 1984) Vieques Air Link Flight 901A (August 2 1984)* San Luis Obispo mid-air collision (August 24 1984) Provincetown-Boston Airlines Flight 1039 (December 1984)
1985	Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 (January 1985) China Airlines Flight 006 (February 1985) Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (August 2 1985) Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 (August 25 1985) Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 (September 6 1985) Henson Airlines Flight 1517 (September 23 1985) Teterboro mid-air collision (November 1985) Death of Ricky Nelson (December 1985)
1986	Grand Canyon mid-air collision (June 1986) Aeroméxico Flight 498 (August 1986) Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628 incident (November 1986)
1987	SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834 (January 1987) Northwest Airlink Flight 2268 (March 1987) American Eagle Flight 5452 (May 1987)* Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (August 1987) Indianapolis Ramada Inn A-7D Corsair II crash (October 1987) Continental Airlines Flight 1713 (November 1987) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 (December 1987)
1988	Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 (January 1988) American Airlines Flight 132 (February 3 1988) AVAir Flight 3378 (February 19 1988) Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (April 1988) TACA Flight 110 (May 1988) Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 (August 1988)
1989	United Airlines Flight 811 (February 1989) Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17 (March 1989) United Airlines Flight 232 (July 1989) USAir Flight 5050 (September 1989) KLM Flight 867 (December 15 1989) United Express Flight 2415 (December 26 1989)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory. 1970–1979 ◄ 1980–1989 ► 1990–1999

Bell JetRanger family

Model
numbers

Civilian
names

Military
designations

HO-4

Q-8C

CH-139

Hkp 6

Foreign
variants

CAC (Australia)	CA-32
Cardoen (Chile)	Cb 206
Eagle Copter (Canada)	Eagle 407
HESA (Iran)	Shahed 278 Shahed 285
PANHA (Iran)	Shabaviz 2061

Modifications

Continental Copters Jet-Cat

Notable
aircraft

Spirit of Texas

Topics

See also: Bell 47 family; Bell Huey family

v t e Grand Canyon
Facilities	Black Suspension Bridge Bridge Canyon Dam Grand Canyon Escalade Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Skywalk Grand Canyon Village, Arizona Kolb Studio Marble Canyon Dam Maswik Lodge Phantom Ranch
Geology	Agave phillipsiana Apollo Temple Bat Cave mine Cardenas Basalt Dox Formation Ericameria arizonica Esplanade Sandstone Grand Canyon Caverns Grand Canyon Forest Reserve Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument Grand Canyon Supergroup Chuar Group Nankoweap Formation Sixtymile Formation Unkar Group Bass Formation Shinumo Quartzite Grand Staircase Freya Castle Hakatai Shale Hermit Formation Hyaloclastite Dam Isis Temple Kanab Plateau Newton Butte Ochoa Point Prospect Dam Redwall Limestone Tanner Graben Temple Butte Tonto Group Bright Angel Shale Toroweap Fault Uinkaret volcanic field Vasey's Paradise Venus Temple Vishnu Temple Vulcan's Throne
Bodies of water	Colorado River Deer Creek Havasu Creek Havasu Falls Kanab Creek Little Colorado River Bright Angel Creek
People	Harvey Butchart Colin Fletcher Kenton Grua John Hance
Tribes	Havasupai Hualapai
Events	Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6
Related	Grand Canyon Backcountry Camping List of trails in Grand Canyon National Park National Register of Historic Places listings in Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Conservancy Grand Canyon Suite Desert Wonderland Grand Canyon (1958 film) A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998 painting) Grand Canyon (2017 children's book) The Man Who Walked Through Time Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets Grand Canyon: A Different View Grand Canyon Escalade

Categories:

Collision

Cause

See also

References

External links