Missoula - Helena

On February 3, 1988 at 08:00 PM, Missoula - Helena experienced a crash involving Cessna 421A Golden Eagle I, operated by Minuteman Aviation, with the event recorded near Helena Montana.

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

3 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. This accident occurred during a night, ILS approach to runway 27 in IMC. The aircraft collided with a mountain 12 nm east-southeast of the airport while turning inbound to intercept the localizer course. Investigation revealed that one VOR receiver was set on the destination ILS frequency, the second VOR was set on an en route VOR 51 nm west of the destination airport, and the DME radio, a separate transceiver, was set on the destination DME transmitter. The frequencies of the en route VOR and the destination VOR were 117.1 and 117.7, respectively. The outbound course for the ILS approach procedure was 088° and the accident site was located on the 088 radial of the en route VOR. Investigation also revealed that the pic was occupying the right front seat and an experienced pilot who was not current in this aircraft was occupying the left seat. The second VOR receiver control head was located in the lower right portion of the instrument panel, in a location where the selected frequency was difficult to read. All three occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N517S, MSN 421A-0002, year of manufacture 1967.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 46.6336°, -112.0192°.