Wreckage from a floatplane crash that killed 10 people in Mutiny Bay over Labor Day weekend will likely be recovered later this month, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB released a preliminary report on Friday describing details of the flight and plane, but stopping short of naming any potential cause of the crash, in which a seasoned pilot and nine passengers were killed in a sudden, puzzling plummet into Puget Sound. The plane had undergone a 100-hour inspection just three days before the incident.
In the immediate aftermath, only small pieces of debris, some personal items and one body, identified as 29-year-old Gabby Hanna, were recovered from the Sept. 4 crash that killed 10 people after witnesses say the plane “disappeared” into the water.
The NTSB announced Friday that it had secured the required work-class remote operated vehicles to begin recovering wreckage located over 150 feet below the surface last weekend. Those recovery efforts are set to begin on September 26, more than three weeks after the crash.
In Friday’s report, based largely on witness reports due to a lack of physical evidence, the NTSB noted “substantial” impact to the plane took place after a “near-vertical” nose dive into Puget Sound, just off of Whidbey Island.
In the report, 911 calls and interviews after the crash, witnesses described the airplane as spinning on the way down and one reported hearing engine noise without any “pitch change” during the descent.
The plane most recently received 100-hour inspections on August 16 and September 1. During the September inspection, a left-hand rudder retract cable was replaced. In August, the horizontal stabilizer hinge bolts, a right-hand engine ignitor and a left-hand float locker latch were replaced, according to the report.
In both August and September, inspections were completed of the control column lower assembly and elevator control tab, as required by Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Directives.
Investigators will use additional evidence from the wreckage to conduct the full investigation, which can take up to 24 months. Limited additional data may be available from the plane.
According to NTSB, the plane had a King 560 Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System installed, which tracks limited parametric flight data, but was not “crash-protected.” It was not equipped “nor was it required to be equipped” with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, according to the report.
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