Worst injury was a broken arm, after a Servant Air BN2-A Britten Norman Islander ended up nose down in the trees in Alaska.
Lucky. They must’ve been going slow as hell to escape major injuries. Then again, this IS the Islander. It even looks… a bit…fixable…
Edit: Having now read the article, I’m a bit… lost.
The NTSB, in that case, determined an improperly installed thumb latch on a luggage panel and a missing latch guard allowed the door to swing open, sending the plane down. The agency faulted the company’s maintenance personnel for failing to ensure the latch was properly installed, according to a probable cause report.
How did the luggage door opening send the plane down? Was it luggage falling out that caused some sort of balance issue? They write it as if the opening of the door alone caused the crash…
The thing to keep in mind is that this airline has had two crashes in 3 years. The baggage door crash was a previous and completely unrelated incident. As a Coast Guard mechanic, pilot, and resident please consider this insider’s perspective.
About that crash: Doors coming open don’t make planes fall out of the sky but taking off into conditions that are not conducive to flight can send a plane down. That’s exactly what happened in this case and it’s also the common thread with the latest accident.
As for the more recent accident the plane was simply pushed beyond its perormance capabilities all in the name of taking shortcuts. The three on board are extremely lucky to be alive after a stall/spin on takeoff!
The question is why is this airline still flying after leaving two different airplanes at opposite ends of the same runway? According to the FAA the first accident was caused by blatent disregard for a door latch AD which resulted in multiple fatalites! Though the door opening probably had little to do with the crash the AD non compliance is blatent disregard for authority and passenger safety. Yet with the number of experienced, competent, and safe operators in Kodiak it is amazing Servant air continues to draw business. How many more crashes will it take?