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#4139673 - 06/26/15 05:34 AM Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard.  
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CG2015 Offline
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Links:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/pl...4167e8a41a.html

http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/plane-with-9-people-on-board-reported-crashed-near-ketchikan/33779404

http://q13fox.com/2015/06/25/missing-pla...ed-cruise-ship/

How does this happen?

Did the pilot get distracted and got too close to the cliff face?

Did a wind shear/crosswinds between the rock face drive the plane into a cliff?

Did the pilot had a medical emergency which incapacitated him?

Or did the plane had mechanical problem which kept it from gaining enough altitude and have enough power to avoid the towering peaks?

Someone once told me that being a 'bush pilot' in Alaska is one of the most dangerous job in the world.

That is a small plane!!





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#4139704 - 06/26/15 09:07 AM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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oldgrognard Online content
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Actually that is a large plane.


Could have been any number of things; weather, pilot error, mechanical, ... All flying has some level of risk. Accident investigation will tell us more, but I think we'll never know for sure; no black box, very unlikely RADAR, possibly GPS, ... Could be as simple as pilot error in turning radius in valley and that is why he crashed into the face. Winds in the mountains and valleys can exceed the planes performance ability.


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#4139738 - 06/26/15 11:43 AM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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Smokin_Hole Offline
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oldgrognard is right. There are just too many possibilities to speculate accurately.

#4139740 - 06/26/15 11:44 AM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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PanzerMeyer  Online Centaurian
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How does that happen? Humans aren't infallible and flying a plane will always involve a certain level of risk regardless of the precautions taken.

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 06/26/15 11:47 AM.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4139746 - 06/26/15 11:58 AM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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The links won't open for me at work but it looks like a "single Otter" with turbine conversion. They are VERY reliable and capable of flying in horible conditions. It's very sad and I hope they can figure out what happened. While we are talking there are scores of Otters flying all over the world , they are very safe aircraft.


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#4139763 - 06/26/15 12:51 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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Jedi Master Offline
Entil'zha
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The footage I saw of the area where the ship itself was indicated a lot of fog.

No TFR on those things, so if the cliff was in a bank of cloud that the pilot thought would end before reaching the cliff...



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The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#4139767 - 06/26/15 12:57 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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I often wonder how people can even still ask questions like "How can this plane have crashed?".

It's not an airliner full of passenger, here, with highly sophisticated systems and followed up by a ground radar, it's a GA plane, with no radar, nothing. Anything can go, from human error to mechanical problem, including bad weather, anything, as people have stated before me. It's like asking how can a car crash...


Murphy's Law says, "Whatever can go wrong, will, and when you least expect it."
(And, of course, we all know that Murphy was an aviator.)

*aka Flying-V*
#4139800 - 06/26/15 01:43 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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#4139918 - 06/26/15 05:34 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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Entil'zha
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The Jedi Master


The anteater is wearing the bagel because he's a reindeer princess. -- my 4 yr old daughter
#4140011 - 06/26/15 09:13 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Billzilla Offline
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Originally Posted By: PanzerMeyer
How does that happen? Humans aren't infallible and flying a plane will always involve a certain level of risk regardless of the precautions taken.


Very true.
I remember when I was based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and we were called out to take the department to a crash site near Gurney/Alotau. The pilot, flying a BN Islander, had taken off from there earlier in the day, flown along the ridge line near clouds and then for no apparent reason turned into the ridge. No witnesses to the final part of the flight but there were earlier.
Something like six people died in that, and no-one knew why.


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#4140016 - 06/26/15 09:31 PM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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Gunslinger5577 Offline
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Sightseeing accidents are often the result of operators pushing the envelope as far as weather..to allow their customers to get what they paid for. Inadvertent IMC is a real threat, even on VFR days...especially near mountainous terrain where there are localized clouds.

Last edited by Gunslinger5577; 06/27/15 01:44 AM.

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#4140647 - 06/29/15 01:58 AM Re: Sightseeing plane crashes into Alaska cliffs killing 9 onboard. [Re: CG2015]  
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kadiir Offline
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I remember talking to a test pilot once and he mentioned getting vertigo briefly at night while in the landing pattern and when he recovered he lined up on what he thought was the runway lights but turned out to be a building.

I didn't read the links so this may not apply but this crash could also have been due to equipment failure.


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