Last Sunday’s fatal crash of a seaplane off Whidbey Island in Puget Sound stunned and mystified the region’s aviation community, for whom sturdy de Havilland floatplanes have been a routine part of life. (Via seattletimes)
Colleen Mondor, an author who specializes in investigating air accidents in Alaska involving similar aircraft, said this flight pattern before such a disastrous end is very strange.
“They’re older. But they’re really good airplanes,” Mondor said. “They’ve flown for a long time for good reason. They don’t fall out of the sky.” “There’s kind of a community within the pilot group here,” Todhunter said. “It’s a tragedy and it’s in all of our thoughts right now.”Seattle seaplane flights typically delight first-time flyers as they look with fresh eyes from the air at the region’s breathtaking scenery of mountains, lakes and ocean.
It’s not all tourists and commuters on these flights. The floatplanes ferry professionals of every description to and from the islands, including whale biologists, doctors, architects, attorneys, boat technicians and IT specialists. “Seaplanes are vital part of the transportation system in the Northwest ... to access some of the most beautiful places in the world,” said Banks. “It’s been a privilege to be part of it.”
The Federal Aviation Administration aircraft registry shows Northwest Seaplanes, the parent company of Friday Harbor Seaplanes, with just a single DHC-3 Otter in its fleet — the one that crashed — along with four DHC-2 Beavers.The air navigation site used by pilots shows an average of 119 seaplane landings or takeoffs per day from Kenmore’s Lake Union base and 118 per day at its Lake Washington base in 2019. About a fifth of those are private seaplane operations without commercial passengers.
The Geneva-based Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives compiled a comprehensive database stretching back 54 years to 1963 that shows 52 fatal DHC-3 Otter crashes, including Sunday’s. These accidents occurred in an environment much more hostile than the scheduled and charter commuter services operated out of Seattle.
Chuck Perry, who has been a pilot for more than 36 years and was Kenmore’s chief pilot before Todhunter, said the Otter is a heavy, stable airplane in high wind.
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