FAA issues warning about type of seaplane that crashed
Oct 10, 2022, 8:50 AM | Updated: 11:48 am
A U.S. Coast Guard boat and Kitsap, Wash., County Sheriff's Office boat search the area near Freeland, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, where a chartered floatplane crashed the day before, killing 10 people. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency airworthiness directive about a part of the tail of DHC-3 Otters, the type of seaplane that crashed. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear, File)
(AP Photo/Stephen Brashear, File)
Federal authorities have issued a warning about a part of the tail in the type of seaplane that聽聽last month, killing 10 people.
The Seattle Times聽聽that the Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency airworthiness directive concerning Otter seaplanes. Released Tuesday, the directive warned of potential cracks and corrosion in a part called the elevator, a movable surface of the horizontal tail that controls the plane鈥檚 pitch.
The newspaper reported the warning was not the result of the investigation into the Sept. 4 crash off Whidbey Island.
According to the directive, federal officials received 鈥渕ultiple recent reports鈥� of cracks in the elevator.
The sudden failure of the elevator can cause a plane to abruptly go nose-down, similar to witness reports of how last month鈥檚 crash in the waters northwest of Seattle looked, said Douglas Wilson, a Seattle-based seaplane pilot and president of aviation consulting firm FBO Partners.
The plane in the聽聽was a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter turboprop operated by Renton-based Friday Harbor Seaplanes.
Todd Banks, president of Kenmore Air, which flies similar Otter seaplanes, said investigators could be looking at many possibilities about what caused the crash.
He did say the timing of the FAA directive was notable, and a problem with the control surface on the tail could be a part of the probe.
An FAA spokesperson said 鈥渢he investigation is ongoing. No cause has been determined.鈥�
The FAA directive about Otter seaplanes orders 鈥渞epetitive detailed visual inspections of the entire left-hand elevator auxiliary spar for cracks, corrosion, and previous repairs, and depending on the findings, replacement of the left-hand elevator auxiliary spar.鈥�
The wording requires urgent action, indicating the danger is considered serious.
