This airplane crash happened December 19, 2005.
My consolation to survivors of the 20 people who died recently when Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashed near Miami, especially the 11 Bimini Island residents and their family, friends and relatives.
My heart also goes out to residents of Miami who watched helplessly as they watched the tragedy occur from their apartments.
Originally posted: December 20, 2005 2106H
Updated for: February 28, 2013 1013H
1 comment:
When I read about this tragedy, I did some investigation of my own. News articles on the net reported that the airplane in question is a Grumman Mallard G-73T. According to Chalk's Ocean Airways, their fleet of Grumman G-73T airplanes are G-73's retrofitted with Pratt & Whitney PT6A Turboprop engines. Hence the "T" suffix to the airplane's model name.
Wikipedia has an entry on the details about Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101. On that page is also recorded the tail number of the plane.
Using the tail number (N2969), when you query the NTSB database with the number as Registration Number, three incidents dated 2/10/1984, 4/17/1984 and 8/14/1987 are recorded at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Of note is the August 14, 1987 incident which occurred in Bimini without a full narrative of events.
What happened on August 14, 1987? Did the incident cause structural damage to the aircraft?
Also of note is that Chalk's Airways shows up in the past 3 recorded incidents at the NTSB.
When a further search of the NTSB database is done on the Grumman G-73, only one other fatal air crash occurred back in 1986 out of 15 recorded incidents since 1964.
Thus, the safety of this plane isn't in question. Rather, the owners of Chalk's Airways would be wise to be more stringent in future safety inspections of their remaining aircraft.
Links:
Bimini islanders mourn plane crash victims:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Plane_Crash_Bimini.html
Chalk's Ocean Airways' Fleet of Grumman G-73T aircraft:
http://www.chalksoceanairways.com/sub4.htm
Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk%27s_Ocean_Airways_Flight_101
Airsafe.com's form to NTSB database:
http://www.airsafe.com/events/accbymod.htm
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_&_Whitney_Canada_PT6
Earlier comments about my investigation:
http://alieaday.blogspot.com/2005/12/chalks-airways-loses-one.html
http://pc540.blogspot.com/2005/12/mystery-surrounds-plane-crash.html
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