Boise - Hailey

On February 15, 1983 at 11:02 AM, Boise - Hailey experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by Sierra Pacific Airlines - SPA, with the event recorded near Hailey-Friedman Memorial Idaho.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 6, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. About 1100 mst, on February 15,1983, a Sierra Pacific Airlines DHC-6, operating as Transwestern Flight 868, crashed during its final approach to a landing on runway 31, 1.7 mile south of the Friedman Memorial Airport at Hailey, Idaho. Flight 868 was a regularly scheduled commuter passenger flight between Boise and Hailey, Idaho. There were two flightcrew members and six passengers on board the flight. One passenger escaped with minor injuries, but all the other occupants sustained serious injuries in the accident. There was no fire. About 800 feet above the small town of Bellevue, 2 miles south of the airport, the captain reduced power in order to configure the airplane for its final approach. Immediately afterward, the captain realized that he had lost eleva control of the airplane. The airplane nosed over and descended steeply. The captain attempted to control the pitch of the airplane by adding power; it began to recover but it crash landed on a highway in a slight nosedown attitude, with the right wing slightly down The airplane then veered off the highway, struck a 4-foot-high snowbank, and broke apart.

Aircraft reference details include registration N361V, MSN 361, year of manufacture 1973.