Latin Times
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched several investigations after seven people died in three separate plane crashes across Alaska, all within three consecutive days.
The first accident took place last Friday, when two brothers flying in a single-engine Champion 7GCBC crashed near Tustumena Lake and died. The next day, a seventy-one-year-old man crashed and died in Wasilla. And on Sunday, a Yute Commuter Services plane crashed near St. Mary’s runway, ending four people’s lives.
Clint Johnson, Chief of the Alaska regional office of the NTSB, pointed out that this spike might be tied to the seasonality of flying small aircrafts.
“This is our busy season,” Johnson said. “Historically, the month of September is our busiest season. [There are] a number of things going on: opening of hunting season, people trying to get in their last trips, there’s just a lot of folks flying around.”
Johnson also said the high air traffic and weather conditions could be real contributing factors to all these fatalities and crashes.
“Another byproduct of that is, obviously, the weather starts turning,” Johnson said. “I’m not drawing any conclusions of any of the accidents that we’ve had, but I can tell you from a very personal standpoint, three [fatal accidents] in three straight days is quite a bit. Keeps our office very, very busy, unfortunately.”
