Two On Board Fatally Injured In Monday Accident

For the second time in a week, a Taquan Air airplane has been involved in a fatal accident in Alaska.

According to a media release from the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the DHC-2 Beaver went down in Metlakatla Harbor Monday afternoon at approximately 4 p.m. local time. The pilot and one passenger were fatally injured. There were no other individuals on board the aircraft.

The circumstances of the crash are not being released at this time. The names of the deceased will not be released until next of kin have been notified.

Fifteen members of the Metlakatla Volunteer Fire Department responded to the crash. A seine boat was first on scene. Two medics were dispatched on board two Coast Guard Station Ketchikan 45-foot Response Boats. Air Station Sitka dispatched one Jayhawk Helicopter, which has since been rescinded to Sitka.

The Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad dispatched a 26-foot rescue boat at 4:56 p.m. with eight volunteers.

Both individuals were brought to the Annette Island Service Unit. Good Samaritans towed the Beaver to the beach.

The NTSB said that the plane was operating as a commuter flight, and not on a sightseeing excursion.

Television station KTUU reports that in a media briefing, NTSB investigator Clint Johnson said the airplane was landing to the west in the harbor. According to witnesses "there was a wind - about 10 knots - and sometime during the touchdown, a float got caught. The aircraft then cartwheeled and landed inverted. It eventually came to rest upside down."

Johnson said the right wing of the airplane was separated from the fuselage as a result of the accident, but the rest of the airplane has been recovered.

A Taquan Air Beaver was one of two airplanes involved in a mid-air collision last week that resulted in the fatal injury of six people.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: Media release
Source report