Single component failure caused Washington seaplane crash that killed 10, NTSB says
U.S. investigators have confirmed that a mechanical issue caused the seaplane crash that killed 10 people off an island in Washington state last year
SEATTLE — U.S. investigators have confirmed that a mechanical issue caused the seaplane crash that killed 10 people off an island in Washington state last year.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the Sept. 4, 2022, crash, said Thursday that a single component of a critical flight control system failed, causing an unrecoverable, near-vertical descent into Puget Sound's Mutiny Bay near Whidbey Island.
About 85% of the aircraft was recovered from the ocean floor several weeks after the crash.
NTSB investigators examining the wreckage found that a component called an actuator, which moves the plane's horizontal tail and controls the airplane's pitch, had become disconnected. That failure would have made it impossible for the pilot to control the airplane.
Evidence showed the failure happened before the crash, not as a result of it, investigators concluded.
The plane was a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter turboprop operated by Renton-based Friday Harbor Seaplanes. It was headed to the Seattle suburb of Renton from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, when it abruptly fell into Mutiny Bay and sank. The pilot and all nine passengers died.
Witnesses said, and video showed, that the plane had been level before climbing slightly and then falling, the NTSB said.
“The Mutiny Bay accident is an incredibly painful reminder that a single point of failure can lead to catastrophe in our skies,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a news release.
Weeks after the crash, the NTSB said the cause appeared to be the disconnected actuator
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