Alaska Turbine Otter float plane crash

Ryanb said:
Doesn't that explain about 90% of all Alaskan crashes?
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Out of my dead friends (5) two were CFITS, one mid air, one CO poisoning, and one we’ll never know.

CFITS are a big part of accidents in Alaska, and generally they are more widely publicized because pictures of an airplane cracked up into a million pieces sell more papers than a wheel poking out of the water in a creek. They are most certainly not 90% however.
 
DavidWhite said:
Out of my dead friends (5) two were CFITS, one mid air, one CO poisoning, and one we’ll never know.

CFITS are a big part of accidents in Alaska, and generally they are more widely publicized because pictures of an airplane cracked up into a million pieces sell more papers than a wheel poking out of the water in a creek. They are most certainly not 90% however.
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I never started counting counting, but the number is too high regardless.

Zeldman said:
I am very happy to see all survived this accident.

Of the 23 pilots I knew that were killed in Alaska, weather was a major factor in 16 of those accidents. The plane was usually found like the one pictured, just a short distance below the ridge or in the trees close to the shore line. 3 others were doing off airport work, 1 was dropping candy to kids, tight turn, stall, crash. 1 was killed trying to save a gear up landing and VMCed into the ground. He survived the accident but not the fire. 1 was killed taking pictures. 1 other there was no determination as to what happened. The plane was found in a smoking hole, near vertical impact, last week of employment going to an airline, young wife, new baby, no pre-impact anomalies found in what was left of the plane.

I was supposed to be on this flight. It bothered me for years. Still does as I was supposed to be on the flight. https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...ID=20001212X19658&AKey=1&RType=Final&IType=FA
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I recognize a few of those descriptions. Alaskan aviation is a small world.
 
I was out flying the morning of the accident. The weather had been slowly deteriorating all morning. It was not a sightseeing flight, it was a flight from a lodge back to ketchikan full of sport fisherman.
 
Of my friends and acquaintances who've lost their lives in airplanes in Alaska? Most had nothing to do with weather. The biggest cause of my friends' deaths has been "failure to maintain control" on clear days. I knew some where weather was a factor, too. Sometimes it's just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mountains and water aren't very forgiving.
 
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