Salmon fishing, bear safaris and cloud hopping in the Alaskan wilderness…
We’re in a de Havilland Beaver bush plane flying high over ancient glacier-carved fjords, the only sound in the six-seater the thrum of a single-engine prop. A hypnotic soundtrack as we skim just over an Alaskan peak, the rocky outcroppings crowned in wisps of stubborn fog. A pond atop the mountain glistens in the morning light of the Misty Fjords National Monument, an area so remote it’s accessible only by boat or floatplane.
It would take a man weeks to hike up to any of the endless summits that make up the stunning 2.2 million acre park, meaning the green and cool lake below is as pristine and unsullied by human hands as it was during the last ice age. Nothing more than a dark puddle for wandering giants. The further we float north splotches of white snow start peppering tree tops and naked granite. Or are those mountain goats?
Chilling pic shows two planes seconds before mid-air crash killing six in Alaska after WINDOW FRAME blocked view
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The last photo: A passenger s chilling image just before a deadly midair collision near Ketchikan
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Alaska Sightseeing Planes’ Crash Blamed on Blocked Views, Failed Alerts Systems By Becky Bohrer and Tom Krisher | April 22, 2021
Two Alaska sightseeing planes collided in 2019 because the views of the pilots were obscured and aircraft-tracking systems failed to warn them about nearby aircraft, federal investigators concluded on Tuesday. Six people died, and 10 people survived.
The National Transportation Safety Board in its probable-cause finding determined that the limitations of the “see and avoid” concept prevented the pilots from seeing each other before the collision. The board also cited a lack of alerts from the planes’ display systems.
The board during its meeting also noted the planes’ structures or a passenger had limited the pilots’ views.
Mountain Air Service pilot Randy Sullivan and his four passengers, and a passenger in a plane owned by Taquan Air were killed. Ten people were injured when the aircrafts converged at 3,350 feet (1,021 meters).
The NTSB, citing information provided by the operators, said the Ketchikan-based floatplanes were on sightseeing tours and both “converging on a scenic waterfall” before returning to Ketchikan when the crash occurred. Mountain Air’s single-engine de Havilland DHC-2 MK 1 Beaver and Taquan’s larger de Havilland DHC-3 Otter collided just after noon over the west side of George Inlet following tours of Misty Fjords National Monument.
NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said the “see and avoid” system that pilots rely on to avoid mid-air crashes doesn’t work well in high-traffic areas where the sight-seeing planes were traveling.