Cessna 208B Caravan, Unalakleet, Alaska, Oct. 24, 2005–The NTSB blamed the crash of a 208B Caravan on the pilot’s failure to maintain altitude/clearance from terrain while performing a low-altitude maneuver.
During a positioning flight for the Bering Air cargo airplane, the commercial pilot was flying low looking for animals. Approaching a ridgeline, he climbed steeply from about 150 feet agl to about 400 to 500 feet, banked to the left at 75 to 80 degrees and descended to about 200 feet. The passenger said the pilot looked to the back of
the airplane because of a noise, and the passenger warned him that the ground was coming up fast. The pilot pulled back on the yoke but the Caravan hit the ground. The pilot and passenger received only minor injuries.