Mallard crash in Miami

What an absolute tragedy, for those who lost their lives, all those connected with them, and for Chalks.

Cracks in both wings.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13587524.htm

The paper reports that on inspection, both wings had cracks present. All planes are still grounded.

Setback in plane crash probe
22/12/2005 20:37 – (SA)

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Doomed plane had unseen cracks

Miami Beach – Federal investigators suffered a setback when no audible sound was found on the cockpit voice recorder recovered from a Bahamas-bound seaplane that crashed off Miami Beach, killing all 20 people aboard, federal investigators said.

But recovery of both parts of the plane’s cracked wing where it separated from the fuselage, and video from the crash will help investigators, Mark Rosenker, the acting chairperson of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said at a briefing on Wednesday.

The Chalk’s Ocean Airways plane, bound for the Bahamas, crashed off Miami Beach on Monday, killing 18 passengers and two crew members.

Cracks were found in the support beam of the wing that fell off the 58-year-old seaplane, the NTSB said. Material has been sent for inspection to labs in Washington, where a microscope will be used to examine metal parts and cracks, Rosenker said.

“We’re particularly interested in deep cracks and any potential corrosion,” said. “The maintenance records should give us a better picture,” as the complex investigation continues.

Wreckage pulled from the water

Investigators had hoped to learn more from the cockpit voice recorder, which was found intact in the tail of the aircraft and flown to an NTSB lab in Washington for examination. But Rosenker said there was nothing readable on it.

“It is clearly disappointing,” Rosenker said. “It is an element that is very helpful in aviation accidents.”

The plane was not required to carry a second device, the flight data recorder, that might have shed additional light on the crash’s cause.

The right wing was pulled from the water on Tuesday. On Wednesday, crews used a crane to lift out the left wing, an engine, a propeller, part of the underbelly of the fuselage and parts of two landing gears. They also raised baskets of debris, including other parts of the fuselage.

Specialists planned to lay the wreckage, which amounts to 95% of the plane, on a floor on Thursday to study it further.

Planes voluntarily grounded

Inspectors will try to determine whether fatigue cracks on the right wing support could have been found and repaired, and whether stress was a factor in the cracking that occurred. Rosenker said detecting such cracks would have required sophisticated testing and would not have been readily apparent.

Chalk’s, which flies between Florida and the Bahamas, voluntarily grounded its remaining fleet on Wednesday for inspection. Chalk’s operates four other seaplanes, all the same model as the one that crashed.

Only 19 bodies have been recovered. At least 11 victims were returning home to the Bahamian island of Bimini, many of them after Christmas shopping jaunts.

Unfortunately no information from the CVR and the planes have been grounded voluntarily.

I’m not surprised no one from Chalks would or could comment. I would think they’d still be too stunned to talk about it. As has been said already, a sad event at anytime but even more so at this particular time.

Latest word from the NTSB is fatigue cracking was found in the spar. Seems a bit fast to come up with that diagnosis, considering they just retrieved the wing from the water yesterday, but I’m not an investigator… maybe it’s as obvious as the proverbial dog’s b*****ks. Very sad all the way around, what a loss for the people on Bimini…

Lynn

Investigators: Cracked Wing Might Have Contributed To Plane Crash

POSTED: 1:15 pm EST December 21, 2005

MIAMI — The wing that fell off a seaplane before it crashed, killing all 20 people on board, had cracks in the main support beam that had probably gone unseen for a long time, federal investigators said Wednesday.

“The examination of the wing roof has found indications of a fatigue crack in the wing spar,” said Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “This crack appears to extend to a majority of the spar at the location of the separation.”

Rosenker stopped short of saying the crack was the sole reason the right wing fell off the 58-year-old Chalk’s Ocean Airways plane Monday shortly after it took off from Watson Island for the island of Bimini in the Bahamas.

But Rosenker said in a news conference that the crack should have been found and repaired, although it would have taken “a very serious” inspection to find it.

Investigators removed parts of the plane from the crash scene Tuesday and planned to scour maintenance and flight records for evidence of work done on the plane.

Flight 101 plummeted into the Government Cut channel off the southern tip of Miami Beach before horrified beachgoers.

The cracks were in the main support beam that connected the wing to the fuselage. Rosenker said that if Chalk’s officials had known about the crack, “they would have repaired it and we wouldn’t be here today. I don’t think they knew it.”

Crews that began raising the plane from the 35 feet of water Tuesday removed the rest Wednesday. Rosenker said inspectors would closely examine the remaining part of the support beam.

Rosenker said the plane’s age could have been a factor in the cracking. The plane was retrofitted in the 1980s with more powerful engines, but it wasn’t clear what role if any that played in the cracking, Rosenker said.

Chalk’s officials had no immediate comment Wednesday.

Rosenker said the NTSB would have discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration and Chalk’s about whether to ground the airline’s remaining four Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallards.

Seems as if the investigators know what they are talking about.

sad news…having a wing come off in flight would indicate a Spar failure, I suppose a lifetime of shock-loads in a salt water environment has to take it’s toll

Latest word from the NTSB is fatigue cracking was found in the spar. Seems a bit fast to come up with that diagnosis, considering they just retrieved the wing from the water yesterday, but I’m not an investigator… maybe it’s as obvious as the proverbial dog’s b*****ks. Very sad all the way around, what a loss for the people on Bimini…

Lynn

The crash has been shown on C4 at midday. Their suggestion of engine failure seems a little wide of the mark . The wing appears to have come off competely at the root.
Very sad .

Saw that on TV, not nice at all anytime, let alone the week before Christmas… 🙁

They don’t operate the Albatross anymore, only Turbo Mallards. On TV it was shown how the machine nosedived into the sea, while the torn off right wing, or at least a big part of it, still high in the air burning. BW Roger

I saw a report on GMTV and just came on to the forum to see what it was, I suspected it may have been a Mallard.
I gather that an amature cameraman filmed the whole accident, unlike the usual media reports it’s a change that GMTV haven’t shown it at all let alone over and over again, presumably it’s on Sky, I don’t think I need to see it.

They don’t operate the Albatross anymore, only Turbo Mallards. On TV it was shown how the machine nosedived into the sea, whith the torn off right wing, or at least a big part of it, still high in the air burning. BW Roger

I think it must have been an Albatross for that many people, I flew on a Chalk’s Piston Mallard back in ’80 to Bimini then Nassau, and from my distant memory it was an 8 seater, I think the turbo Mallards could carry a couple more, but not many.

If anyone is out in Miami and at a loose end, then take a trip, it is a fantastic experience and Bimini has to be the best Airport in the world! You land in the lagoon, drop the wheels, taxi up onto the beach, and then sit under a palm tree whilst they turn the A/c round!

BBC and Fox news list it as a Mallard..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4543932.stm
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,179168,00.html

No survivors now…

What a loss.

Saw it on Ceefax a few minutes ago, just said seaplane but I guessed it had to be a Grumman of some sort. 14 dead so far and still searching. 🙁

Story here.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/19/miami.crash.ap/index.html

Although it does not mention what plane was involved…