NTSB and US Navy to Recover Mutiny Bay Wreckage
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the US Navy will recover the wreckage from the Mutiny Bay plane crash that occurred September 4th.
The Nay plans to use a remote operated vehicle along with a barge and a crane to retrieve the wreckage from the floor.
On September 16th, NTSB released a preliminary report for the investigation they are leading into the circumstances surrounding the crash that took the lives of all 10 people that were aboard the DHC-3 Turbine Otter.
The plane left Friday Harbor just before 3:00 pm on September 4th en route to Renton Municipal Airport. Shortly after take off the plane crashed in Mutiny Bay, not far from Freeland.
Witnesses near the accident site reported the airplane was in level flight before it entered a slight climb, then pitched down in a near-vertical descent. Several witnesses described the airplane “spinning,” “rotating” or “spiraling” during portions of the descent.
NTSB along with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Navigation Response Team and the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory located the wreckage at the bottom of Mutiny Bay at a depth of roughly 190 feet.
All information in the NTSB preliminary report is subject to change as more information is revealed during the course of the investigation. Probable cause of the accident will be determined after the investigation is complete, which could take as long as 24 months.
NTSB and the US Navy will begin full recovery operations of the wreckage September 26th.