Kenmore Air down Sucia Island 7/23

///AMG

///AMG

Well-Known Member
Just seeing first reports. No idea about anything, life flight inbound, happened about 40 mins ago. 11 accounted for, one not. No other details. Northern San Juans. I know my shop has a few peeps who still moonlight there, and I bet we have some here on JC too, hope everyone ends up ok, pics didn't look good, but survivors is great to hear. Don't know if it had anything to do with it, but there were some significant convective cells moving through the area right around then.
 
Looks tricky
 

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Cessnaflyer said:
The stories I’ve heard about trying to avoid storms and the videos I’ve seen don’t seem to lineup.
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Yeah, I agree, based on video. Probably just coincidence. Though it certainly could have impacted landing conditions on the water
 
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What are they doing to that otter?

That fits my worst-case engine failure backup plan in AK—ditch in the water right beside land. But I was on wheels, not floats.

I wonder if they were dealing with an uncontained cabin fire (LI battery?) or similar emergency and needed to get the airplane on the deck ASAP with low or no cockpit vis. If so, one helluva job having any survivors.

If not, then I'm at a bit of a loss.
 
The video I saw had a normal approach until 50 feet and then a big rock in the water comes into view. Right after that he pulls up and gets unstable and wonky. Wonder if he saw the rock at the last second and stalled trying to avoid the rock.
 
🦈💜 said:
What are they doing to that otter?

That fits my worst-case engine failure backup plan in AK—ditch in the water right beside land. But I was on wheels, not floats.

I wonder if they were dealing with an uncontained cabin fire (LI battery?) or similar emergency and needed to get the airplane on the deck ASAP with low or no cockpit vis. If so, one helluva job having any survivors.

If not, then I'm at a bit of a loss.
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Yeah, seems so strange.
 
The Otter has a LOT going on back in the tail (THS, servo tab, second servo tab linked to flaps…) which on floats is dunked in salt water, and we’ve already lost one due to some of that mechanism coming apart. Just another data point
 
I am really interested to see how this unfolds and what actually occurred.

I am not a float guy, but I would love to do a float rating someday. I know that he was going around the weather, but the weather in the video at the time of the crash looks really mild. I can only imagine that something else happened here. Why not just simply put it down in the water and wait for a boat or something? Why try to get so close to shore that you essentially crash into it, in a floatplane with an emergency situation?
 
CFI A&P said:
Kenmore runs a great operation, never heard anything bad about them and met some of the their pilots. Good people. There's a good chance that some former of current pilots are members here.

Not saying this is what happened here, but sometimes the cause is the strangest chain of events:

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Jesus, what a death trap. Every 4 years since 2006, I've been upside down, blindfolded, and fully submerged in a mock helicopter while strapped into a seat using that same (or very similar) 4-point seat restraint. I'll just say that the restraint itself is enough to cause problems for a lot of people who aren't very comfortable in the water, or just because it tends to get stuck with one or more straps failing to release pretty easily if it wasn't tight to begin with. No chance they'd be able to navigate the process of disconnecting an additional harness with carabiners and whatnot on top of the seat restraint. They did have the luxury of being right next to the egress doors, which we do not in the dunker, so that buys you a little extra time, but not that much.
 
///AMG said:
Jesus, what a death trap. Every 4 years since 2006, I've been upside down, blindfolded, and fully submerged in a mock helicopter while strapped into a seat using that same (or very similar) 4-point seat restraint. I'll just say that the restraint itself is enough to cause problems for a lot of people who aren't very comfortable in the water, or just because it tends to get stuck with one or more straps failing to release pretty easily if it wasn't tight to begin with. No chance they'd be able to navigate the process of disconnecting an additional harness with carabiners and whatnot on top of the seat restraint. They did have the luxury of being right next to the egress doors, which we do not in the dunker, so that buys you a little extra time, but not that much.
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Water there is likely in the 50's, which isn't horrible IF you're trained but can easily be a factor.
I've been in dunk training, am a strong swimmer, and even I have had trouble (seat belt not releasing)
One moment of panic, one lung full of water and you're done.
Better trained people than me have met their doom in a relatively benign water landing.

Add concussion, deep fear about flying, water, death, add herd mentality, and cold shock and things go bad REAL fast.
 
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