Miami Seaplane Lost Wing Before Crash

airwise news, reuters ^ | December 21, 2005 | staff

[saganite]

A twin-engine seaplane lost one of its wings before it crashed off Miami Beach into the city's main shipping channel killing at least 19 people on board, a US federal safety official said on Tuesday.

Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference the breaking apart of the aircraft could be seen in video footage of the Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallard, filmed in its final moments on Monday above water.

"What I've seen is a separation of a wing from the aircraft and, as a result, the aircraft crashing. I can't tell you why," Rosenker said.

"Corrosion could be some of it," he said of the loss of the wing, which split from the aircraft along with one of its turbo-prop engines.

"Fatigue could be some of it," Rosenker added. "A number of issues: stress on the aircraft; inappropriate operation of the aircraft. A number of things could tear the wing off of an aircraft."

A report on Miami's UPN 33 television news said that previously unseen amateur video footage had provided investigators with valuable, last-minute insight into potential causes of the crash.

Earlier, a widely distributed home video showed part of the 58-year-old plane spiraling downward and belching thick black smoke as the rest of the aircraft plowed into the sea in the background.

Rosenker told reporters federal authorities had secured all maintenance and flight records from Ft. Lauderdale-based Chalk's Ocean Airways, the operator of the aircraft, and that the delicate task of raising the fuselage from the seabed would probably be completed on Wednesday.

Rosenker said the doomed plane had been retro-fitted in the mid-1980s and had new engines. Speedy retrieval of its cockpit voice recorder, by FBI and Miami-Dade Police divers, was impossible due to the mangled condition of the underwater wreckage, he said.

Captain James Maes of the US Coast Guard said authorities had been unable to account for one of the 20 people believed to be on aboard the aircraft. They included two crew members and three infants.

The plane was on its way to the Bahamian island of Bimini, 80 km away, carrying Bahamians who had traveled to Miami for Christmas shopping.

Chalk's has operated between Miami and the Bahamas since 1919, when Prohibition was in full force and rum-running from the Bahamas provided a steady income, Chalk's said on its web site.

The airline said it had never suffered an accident involving passengers before, but one of its aircraft crashed on takeoff from Key West in 1994, killing both pilots.

[Ninian Dryhope]

Probably terrorism. Easy target.

[saganite]

I hope you're kidding. You are, right?

[ken5050]

So it's either the wing came off..severing fuel lines, which then caused misting and the explosion..or there was an explosion which then blew the wing off..

[mewzilla]

They ever locate the remains of the 20th passenger?

[DB]

Metal gets fatigued over time when under constant changing stress. At some point it isn't safe to fly in old planes no matter how well maintained.

[saganite]

Or the wing seperated under load because it was corroded. These things live in salt water. I'm not sure whether the wing spar on these is wood or metal but the environment they operate in is rough on both materials.

[stuartcr]

Why probably terrorism?

[stboz]

Who signed off on the airworthiness of the aircraft?

[commish]

IF I had to guess from what I know about seaplanes (which is not much), I would bet the plane got caught in a wake or something and dipped a pontoon or wingtip which stressed the wing just enough to sheer it.

Jimmy Buffett had a similar accident off of either Long Island or Nantucket. He was acceleating for take off and one of his outer pontoons got hit by a large wave. The Pontoon submerged and flipped the plane over. Luckily for him there was no fire and he was able to escape.

[SR 50]

He was the one that did not board the plane after checking the luggage with the bomb planted inside.

There was some internet chatter about it but the wire tap order did not get clearance fast enough to keep the plan from taking off. (s/)

[mewzilla]

FWIW, I'm betting age and corrosion for the accident. But I'm still curious about the 20th passenger.

[Ninian Dryhope]

I am not kidding. We will know soon enough what happened.

I happened to fly on one of these airplanes from Paradise Island to Miami back in the the late 70's. When we landed to made a stop in Bimini, we hit a wave and it made such a loud smack that it sounded like the bottom was being torn out.

I was told at the time the Chalk Airlines had never had a fatality. They said that if there was every any trouble with an engine, the plane could set down on the water safely. The thing only flew about 750 above the water and it seemed to only be going about 120 mph. It was a neat flight.

As I understand it, there is no airport security for Chalk Airlines flights. When I flew, we passengers stood around outside on a concrete dock until the plane showed up, popped its wheels out and taxied up the ramp onto the land. After we got on the plane, it taxied back down the ramp into the water, folded its wheels into recesses in its side, headed out into the bay, turned into the wind, and gave her the gun.

[ken5050]

True..also, these planes do lots of short hops...many take-offs and landings..where stress/load is the greatest..Remember the Hawaiian Airlines plane that lost the top of the fuselage because of metal fatigue....That airlien does short interisland hops, so that airframe had nearly three times the number of evolutions as most other planes of the same hours of flight. It ( metal fatigue) was the contributing cause of the incident.

[michaelt]

You better make your sarcasm tag bigger. Some people will probably miss it. ;-)

[19th LA Inf]

Corrosion from salt water and/or fatigue can cause wing failure. I know of a case where an Aero Commander wing failure happened while turning final for landing at Love Field. The aircraft was a company shuttle on which the procedure was to shut down the left engine for passenger boarding at each stop, which happened a dozen or so times a day. A crack in a wing spar, aggravated by the vibration from engine starting cycle, got longer each time, until finally the little bit of added stress from banking for the final turn was too much.

"Fate is the Hunter." (Ernest Gann)

[ken5050]

Interesting theory..the plane in question is a high wing design..and it was taking off froma fairly sheltered area..there was no wave actrion..had they somehow clipped a wavetop, due to a wing dip....the pilot would have aborted the take off..

[saganite]

There is an excellent discussion of the possibilities on this website. Generally, aviation pros post here so it's very informative if anyone's interested.

http://pprune.com/forums/showthread.php?s=dde75cd62b35a0493310181580d030c6&threadid=202866&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

[bmwcyle]

Da plane, da plane!

[Aquinasfan]

the 58-year-old plane

That seems to be far beyond a safe zone for metal fatigue. Any metallurgists out there? It seems like this plane should have been retired a long time ago.