Posted on 12/18/2013 5:13:09 PM PST by WhiskeyX
One of the first things the pilot in a fatal crash off the Hawaiian island of Molokai did after being released from the hospital was climb into the cockpit of an airplane. [….] An autopsy was conducted Friday on Fuddy but results were not yet available.... [….] If the plane is recovered, Makani Kai staff will remove the engine under the supervision by NTSB officials, Schuman said.
It will be placed in a box and sealed, with the NTSB likely taking it back to the factory of engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, where engineers will take it apart to find out what happened, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
So, he would be available for some sight seeing flights starting say, around 12/21 to the outer islands?
How many days until his moooost unfortunate center fuel tank explosion over Fort Marcy Park..?
I looked up the accident record, world-wide, for the Caravan over its lifetime. Not really too stellar, IMHO. Even though most of the cases have been attributed to pilot error, the accident rate is about ten percent.
10% of what? Link, please.
Caravans are one of the workhorse single engine cargo/passenger planes, often flying in more remote areas.
Ping!
So, it was more of a scary water landing where everyone had time to put on a life jacket, jump out into the water and swim to shore rather than a mangled crash with everyone near to drowning. Hardly a bump or bruise except for Fuddy, hmmm.
Ping!
It does raise eyebrows. That's why the autopsy report on Fuddy could be revealing. BTW, only one of the people aboard, a 70 year old man, swam to shore. The others were rescued.
Thanks for the ping.
iirc the young couple interviewed said they walked down some steps and into the water...sounds like the pilot effected a very gentle landing; they all put on their lifejackets and walked out of the aircraft as if they were getting into a swimming pool...no panic.
“So, it was more of a scary water landing where everyone had time to put on a life jacket, jump out into the water and swim to shore rather than a mangled crash with everyone near to drowning. Hardly a bump or bruise except for Fuddy, hmmm.”
No, that is the direct opposite of the reality. The pilot suffered a gash on his forehead that spewed blood all over the control panel. One of the passengers also suffered a cut to his head that bled. The passengers used the seat cushions as their life vest and flotation devices. The pilot, Clyde Kawasaki gave his to one of the passengers. He had to swim without a flotaion device or life vest, so he held onto the passengers. This was difficult because of the rough seas and very strong currents that swept the survivor groups apart and out to sea a half-mile and mile before rescue helicopter crews lifted them out of the sea. The one exception was a 70 year old man who was a former Army Ranger who swam ashore, but it took him an hour of exhausting swimming against the current to do so.
Make no mistake, this was a potentially fatal incident for all aboard the aircraft, even after safely evacuating the aircraft to swim in the sea. It appears most of the survivors suffered at least some degree of mild to severe hypothermia due to being in the water and the chill from the moderate breeze. Fuddy’s death may have been due to the failure of some organ/s as a result of this hypothermia.
WhiskeyX provided a link to a press release by Australia’s Transportation Safety Board, regarding a 2006 Cessna floatplane (not sure what that is) crash landing in water. There were no reported injuries for pilot or passengers. That report is at http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2006/AAIR/aair200600563.aspx
That particular case involved electrical discharge damage from a starter/generator that was replaced on it. The pilot had advance warning that the engine was going to fail, unlike this case. Here’s the description:
“On 5 February 2006, at approximately 1725 Eastern Daylight-saving Time, a Cessna Aircraft Company 208 floatplane, registered VH-KLP, departed from Strahan, Tasmania on a chartered tourist flight over Frenchman’s Cap with the pilot and ten passengers.
When the aircraft was over Frenchman’s Cap at an altitude of 4,500 ft above mean sea level, the pilot observed that a chip detector light on the master caution warning panel had illuminated. The pilot decided to land the plane as soon as possible. During the diversion, five minutes after the chip detector light illuminated, a loud noise was heard and the engine lost power. The pilot immediately feathered the propeller and carried out a forced landing on Lake Burbury.
The pilot reported that the aircraft landed heavily and its forward speed could not be controlled. The aircraft came to a stop on a mud bank on the edge of Lake Burbury with its floats clear of the water. There were no reported injuries.
The engine was removed, disassembled and inspected, revealing damaged components with characteristics consistent with electrical discharge damage. The source of the electrical discharge damage was a starter-generator that was replaced due to a malfunction 18.7 hours prior to the engine failing. This was the forty-third reported starter-generator electrical discharge damage event reported to have taken place on PT6A series engines world-wide since 1992.
As a result of this investigation several safety recommendations have been issued to the aircraft manufacturer, the engine manufacturer, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Transport Canada and the US Federal Aviation Administration.”
I don’t know if they mean 18.7 FLIGHT HOURS prior to this crash, or just 18.7 hours - like the starter/generator had been replaced less than a full day before the crash. If it was less than a day before the crash, maybe the starter was just put in wrong. The recommendations from the Australian body regarded mandatory maintenance. Those recommendations were in October of 2007 - 6 years ago - so it makes me wonder if those have been implemented in the US as well.
Where are you finding this information?
Yeah, a 70 year old was able to swim to shore and everyone else bobbed around patiently for the rescuers. But then after holding hands, Fuddy just wasn’t there?? As if the plane that was circling overhead couldn’t see her in the water? Yes, there are many planes skirting around the islands but was this plane just on a normal flight or waiting to report on the crash? How was Fuddy “not there” according to her deputy who was holding her hand? She’s in a life jacket so she can’t drown. The water is so clear you can see if she had done the impossible and sank. Even if Fuddy had had a heart attack or cracked her head, she’ still be there if the deputy had been holding her hand. Besides, he’d have known if she was having a heart attack or whatever. The ocean couldn’t have been that rough for an elderly man to swim ashore. Fine, he might be athletic but, come on, he’s 70. Usually, it’s the pilot who gets the worst impact but the hospital gave him a once over and he’s back hoping into the cockpit again. Nope, something isn’t adding up.
The search engines are turning up results using a variety of different search topics.
Power loss over rough seas
Coast Guard rescues pilots from sinking floatplane
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2012/September/13/Power-loss-over-rough-seas.aspx
a floatplane:
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu-U6E3XxMANvWxBAtPmHnrZ2-S-VaW9iIjdugMelEHLfqUhbprskVJp2Q
I would love to read the article your infromation came from, could you be good enough to supply a link please?
So you will notice that the report I posted of the floatplane coming down in rough seas was detailed and informative, not made up of scraps of contradictory heresay as is the case with the incident under discussion.
The way some of those reports were written, there was no way of telling who was rescued when and by whom.
Now we have comments that suggest there were not enough lifejackets.
Yet Yamamoto clearly said they all wore lifejackets, and he helped Fuddy put hers on.
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