Thoughts are with the families of those that perished in the Otter crash in AK yesterday and hoping the seven others pull thru. Seems like its been a bad year for GA with all these crashes...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/plane-carrying-10-down-in-alaska-3-dead-troopers-say/

I used to work for that lodge and took care of that Otter. What a shame!! I feel for the families.

Back in the day on Eastwind lake...... she got a stinking turbine on her nose a couple years ago, but was as nice of an airplane as I ever worked on.

Very sad. God bless.

Very much reminds me of....

On June 25, 2015 a beautiful turbine Otter crashed after departing Ketchikan. I was flying the same day close by across the border in British Columbia. Will never forget that day. It was terrible weather. Super sad for the PAX and Promech Air, Inc., of Ketchikan. Everybody (including myself) in Ketchikan knew "N279PA", it was an amazing ship.

http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20150625X15034&key=1

NTSB googled wrote:Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Thursday, June 25, 2015 in Ketchikan, AK
Aircraft: DEHAVILLAND DHC 3, registration: N270PA
Injuries: 9 Fatal.

Photograph from my iPAD June 25:

Pretty much unrelated... other than they both were turbine Otters. Promech went out when other operators called it off.... RKL departed in the dark from a lake that Ray (the guy that built that lodge and was my boss when I was there) said never to haul passengers off of....
It will be interesting to see what the NTSB finds.
JH

hardtailjohn wrote:Pretty much unrelated... other than they both were turbine Otters. Promech went out when other operators called it off.... RKL departed in the dark from a lake that Ray (the guy that built that lodge and was my boss when I was there) said never to haul passengers off of....
It will be interesting to see what the NTSB finds.
JH

No analogy intended. Except both Otters. I should of mentioned that. My bad.

Promech was flying during a nasty frontal passage. The beauty of Alaska can make Pilots do things...

hardtailjohn wrote:Pretty much unrelated... other than they both were turbine Otters. Promech went out when other operators called it off.... RKL departed in the dark from a lake that Ray (the guy that built that lodge and was my boss when I was there) said never to haul passengers off of....
It will be interesting to see what the NTSB finds.
JH

The Otter is such a great performer on floats, and then add all that power from a turbine, and it's pretty easy to start accepting pretty small or obstructed water bodies to operate from. That, by definition limits your options, and increases risk.

Terrible accident, several hurt badly as well as the fatals. Hoping they make it.

Prayers for all.

MTV

Hardtail- they may not have flown passengers from that lake with a piston otter but that garret otter is a ten person super cub. At 3400ft that lake distance was probably not a factor don't ya think?
How much work is it maintaining a piston otter? Lots of engine maintenance or airframe or both?

PAMR MX wrote:Hardtail- they may not have flown passengers from that lake with a piston otter but that garret otter is a ten person super cub. At 3400ft that lake distance was probably not a factor don't ya think?
How much work is it maintaining a piston otter? Lots of engine maintenance or airframe or both?

Yah, Ray always said there was just nowhere to go if you left Eastwind with pax...and there's Lake Illiamna just a few miles away, and walking distance from the lodge...and there's lots of water there! We always headed over there to load and fly off the big lake....just more options. I think you're very correct in that the turbine is a fantastic performer and so reliable! To be truthful, had it been a piston Otter, I'd have suspected an engine problem, but I just don't feel the same about the turbines. They were only carrying 10, so it had plenty of reserve capacity. From what was said to me, they contacted a tree in the dark (before daylight). If you're headed out of there, away from the base, it's all uphill and pretty easy to not see something that you might have in the daylight??? I don't know....it's just a terrible sad situation that they went through, and I feel bad for all involved.
The piston Otter isn't that bad to maintain...especially with the right pilots flying them. The geared 1340's got a bad reputation from most of the people trying to fly them like a 985....can't do that. Ray's brother Don, flew them the right way.... he'd set his power and seldom change it throughout the flight. When he did change it, it was a small and gradual change....not the "crank it to this and move the levers to that" style that so many use. That engine doesn't like to have the prop driving the engine at all. His engines always made it to TBO without a hitch. Slow and careful warm ups and cool downs helped a lot. I always got out there at least an hour before the pilots, and had everything up to temp by the time they showed up. If you get the wrong guy behind that engine, he can make you work your butt off. The three Otters we had when I was there were all perfect, and Ray wanted them to remain that way....if you fixed something on one, he wanted the other 2 to be looked at closely for the same thing and if there was any doubt, just get the parts and get it fixed before it became an issue. It was a dream job for me!! I had 3 Otters, a Beaver and a 206 to take care of, and a boss that wanted them to be perfect, with no corners cut...can't get better than that! I wish I'd have gotten there sooner than I did...I'd have liked to work more with Ray than I got to.

hardtailjohn wrote:

PAMR MX wrote:Hardtail- they may not have flown passengers from that lake with a piston otter but that garret otter is a ten person super cub. At 3400ft that lake distance was probably not a factor don't ya think?
How much work is it maintaining a piston otter? Lots of engine maintenance or airframe or both?

Yah, Ray always said there was just nowhere to go if you left Eastwind with pax...and there's Lake Illiamna just a few miles away, and walking distance from the lodge...and there's lots of water there! We always headed over there to load and fly off the big lake....just more options. I think you're very correct in that the turbine is a fantastic performer and so reliable! To be truthful, had it been a piston Otter, I'd have suspected an engine problem, but I just don't feel the same about the turbines. They were only carrying 10, so it had plenty of reserve capacity. From what was said to me, they contacted a tree in the dark (before daylight). If you're headed out of there, away from the base, it's all uphill and pretty easy to not see something that you might have in the daylight??? I don't know....it's just a terrible sad situation that they went through, and I feel bad for all involved.
The piston Otter isn't that bad to maintain...especially with the right pilots flying them. The geared 1340's got a bad reputation from most of the people trying to fly them like a 985....can't do that. Ray's brother Don, flew them the right way.... he'd set his power and seldom change it throughout the flight. When he did change it, it was a small and gradual change....not the "crank it to this and move the levers to that" style that so many use. That engine doesn't like to have the prop driving the engine at all. His engines always made it to TBO without a hitch. Slow and careful warm ups and cool downs helped a lot. I always got out there at least an hour before the pilots, and had everything up to temp by the time they showed up. If you get the wrong guy behind that engine, he can make you work your butt off. The three Otters we had when I was there were all perfect, and Ray wanted them to remain that way....if you fixed something on one, he wanted the other 2 to be looked at closely for the same thing and if there was any doubt, just get the parts and get it fixed before it became an issue. It was a dream job for me!! I had 3 Otters, a Beaver and a 206 to take care of, and a boss that wanted them to be perfect, with no corners cut...can't get better than that! I wish I'd have gotten there sooner than I did...I'd have liked to work more with Ray than I got to.

Sounds like an awesome boss!

I was surprised to hear from an inside source that the Promech crash was not caused by weather, which is what I and most observers assumed. The NTSB report, when it eventually comes out, should settle that one way or the other. If not wx, that would seem to point to pilot incapacitation or such.

Pierre