2013 Rediske Air DHC-3 crash

Airline Rediske Air was a small air taxi charter airline operating out of Alaska. Rediske Air was formed in 1991. It was started by Charlie Rediske, a local pilot. In 2001, Charlie Rediske died, and his son Walter and his daughter Lyla became chief operators of the airline. As of 2017, the airline's website was no longer working. Aircraft The aircraft involved was a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter with serial number 280 which was originally delivered to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Air Division on 25 February 1959 with Canadian registration C-FMPX. From 1979 to 2010 it operated commercially for various companies across Canada. The aircraft was fitted with supplemental type certificate (STC) kits to add an enlarged baggage compartment, a strengthened cargo net, and shoulder harnesses. In 2010, it was sent to Recon Air Corporation in Geraldton, Ontario, and fitted with a Garrett TPE-33-10R turboprop engine under a Texas Turbine Conversions, Inc. STC, along with three other STCs: a Baron short takeoff and landing (STOL) kit; a pulse light control system; and extended-range fuel tanks. Later that same year, the aircraft was sold and re-registered in the United States as N93PC. ==Crash==

At the time of the accident, the aircraft was being operated by Rediske Air of Nikiski, Alaska, on a commercial charter flight to Bear Mountain Lodge, about southwest of Soldotna. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was called in to investigate the cause of the crash. In addition to the pilot, the crash killed nine people from two families visiting Alaska from Greenville, South Carolina. The victims' ages ranged from 11 to 74. The aircraft impacted the ground from the threshold of the departure runway, about to the right of the extended runway centerline, in a nose-low, right-wing-low attitude. An intense post-crash fire consumed most of the aircraft's cockpit and cabin, destroying an unknown quantity of cargo and baggage. The weather was reported to be cloudy at the time of the accident. ==Investigation==

There were no eyewitnesses to the accident. The incident aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder. The NTSB found that a passenger had recorded the takeoff with the camera of his mobile phone. Due to the absence of any other recorded data, the NTSB decided to reconstruct the trajectory and speed of the airplane based on the recorded video. The analysis was challenging, since the camera was hand-held. By applying image analysis and 3D computer simulation, the NTSB was able to first estimate the time-varying orientation of the camera and then the location and orientation of the airplane. The NTSB report found: "The analysis revealed that shortly after takeoff, flight speed started decreasing rapidly and angle of attack started increasing rapidly. Approximately 11 seconds after takeoff, flight speed and angle of attack reached levels corresponding to stall." The video showed that the aircraft had taken off with its flaps in the full-down or landing position, contrary to the recommendation in the aircraft's flight manual. ==See also==