The Alaska commuter plane that disappeared last month before its wreck was discovered with all 10 onboard dead was more than 1,000 pounds overweight at the time of takeoff, according to details of a preliminary investigation released Wednesday.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said in a new report that the fatal Bering Air Cessna flight was significantly overloaded for Alaska’s expected icy weather conditions on Feb. 6 which could have contributed to its rapid loss of altitude and ultimate demise that day.
“[T]he airplane’s estimated gross takeoff weight at departure was about 9,865 lbs, which was about 1,058 lbs over the maximum takeoff gross weight for flight into known or forecast icing conditions,” the preliminary report from the NTSB stated.
“It was also about 803 lbs over the maximum gross takeoff weight for any flight operation under the APE III flight manual supplement,” the report said.
The APE III is a payload extender that the doomed Textron Aviation plane was outfitted with, which increased the maximum gross takeoff weight for the aircraft.
Cargo and baggage on the flight weighed about 709 lbs.
NTSB said in its preliminary report that there were no significant meteorological weather advisories or warnings at the time of the crash. The full NTSB investigation will continue to examine all possible weather factors, the report stated.
The plane which was traveling between the communities of Unalakleet and Nome was also flown by an experienced pilot, according to the report.
Pilot Chan Antill, 34, held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for single-engine and multi-engine land airplanes. He also had instrument privileges in planes, according to the report.
Before his death, he had accumulated about 2,500 hours of flight time.
Antill flew 58.4 hours in the 30 days preceding the accident and 4.4 hours in the week prior, according to the NTSB.
The Cessna Caravan flight was carrying Antill and his nine passengers when authorities lost all contact just an hour after takeoff and the plane seemingly vanished from the map.
The wreckage was found the following day, Feb. 7, on sea ice off Alaska’s coast.
It was the third major plane crash in the US in just over a week.
The official cause of the crash has not yet been determined as the NTSB is continuing its investigation.
A full and final report with the official cause will be released at a later date.
Read the full article here
