6 dead in Alaska sightseeing plane crash, U.S. Coast Guard says

[discocrisco01]

Source: Associated Press

A sightseeing plane crashed Thursday in southeast Alaska, killing all six people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The plane's emergency alert beacon was activated around 11:20 a.m. local time when the plane crashed in the area of Misty Fjords National Monument, near Ketchikan, the Coast Guard and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.

A helicopter company reported seeing wreckage on a ridgeline in the search area, and Coast Guard crew members found the wreckage around 2:40 p.m. A Coast Guard helicopter lowered two rescue swimmers to the site, and they reported no survivors, the agency said.

The identities of those killed in the crash were not immediately released. The Alaska State Troopers and volunteers from the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad will coordinate recovery efforts Thursday and Friday.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alaska-sightseeing-plane-crash-six-dead-1.6131765

[NurseJackie]

1. I've read and seen other stories that explained how dangerous these flights are...

... more so in Alaska than any other state that has similar sightseeing by air services. (It's the terrain and quickly-changing visibility issues.)

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. During our last trip to Alaska our sightseeing flight was canceled due to weather. The one that left

before ours was scheduled disappeared. We never learned what happened to it.

[DFW]

3. I've been on one of those planes out of Ketchikan

It was in late August, and the pilot flew us in clear weather near and over the mountains, saying how amazing the weather was. He said it was the first truly clear day since the beginning of the year!

I'm glad we never knew what a perilous area it was, although our pilot said he never flew anywhere near the mountains usually, as he could never see where he was going.

[VarryOn]

4. Note to self: Never take one of these flights...

if you go to Alaska.

They maybe worse than hot air balloons.

[tenderfoot]

5. ProPublica has an extensive article regarding air crashes in Alaska

https://www.propublica.org/article/commercial-aviation-is-essential-to-life-here-its-also-home-to-a-growing-share-of-the-countrys-deadly-crashes

[tonekat]

6. I took one of those flights once

It was July 2005. My then spouse and I were coming off the small ship we were on for a week, and she had paid in advance for the excursion, so we went straight from the ship to the floatplane. It was my first flight in a single engine plane, and I enjoyed it, the pilot landed on a lake in the Misty Fjords, and after taking pics there, we flew back to Ketchikan.
That is steep terrain in there, and reading of this crash made me glad to have had a successful experience, and very sorry for those who perished. I like those DeHavilland planes.

That Pro-Publica article is a good read, and opens ones eyes to the issues that seem to be ignored by the industry and the FAA.

[alphafemale]

7. And the pilots doing this several times a day are probably not well paid.

I am ambivalent about feeling bad about well to do to tourists forcing this practice.