DHC 3 Turbine Otter - Friday Harbor WA - 5 Sep 22

Having been on Kenmore Air dozens of times commuting between Seattle and the San Juan Islands it is a bit remarkable that these aircraft do not have more issues. (I have not experience with Friday Harbor Seaplanes) Back in 2016 Kenmore Air lost a DH2 Beaver though thankfully all passengers survived. (interestingly the USCG never noted the crash and the passengers were picked up by a fishing boat) Kenmore does an amazing job keeping these decidedly older, 50-70 plus year old, aircraft running, but I have seen the younger pilots often flummoxed by the older aircraft. Though I have some serious misgivings about how well these aircraft can age especially operating in salt water.
tempImage3dMzCJ.jpg
tempImageTev7CK.jpg
 
Horizontal stabilizer may have just swung free due to a lock ring unthreading. Yikes.

www.aopa.org

NTSB updates investigation of fatal Otter accident

NTSB investigators updated their investigation of a September 4 accident that killed all 10 people aboard a de Havilland Canada DHC–3 Otter, releasing details that suggest the horizontal stabilizer may have disconnected in flight causing loss of aircraft control.
www.aopa.org
 
Daleandee said:
Amazing work that these investigators do.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. I've seen them pull more than one rabbit out of a hat from a pile of wreckage that would all fit in 55-gallon barrels. Unfortunately, some people out there think those same investigators are fools and purposely hiding things when they are personally investigated and don't want to accept the truth of the matter.
 
Not to show my lack of knowledge or experience (that's way too easy), but rather to continue learning....

Would there have been a way to maintain control of the aircraft? One of the emergency exercises my CFI had me do involved simulated loss of yoke control (broken cable, snapped u-joints, whatever) in my Cherokee. Was more than able to maneuver the plane using hand-crank trim, rudder, and throttle into an appropriate and safe approach to landing, although we terminated the drill about 50' AGL and did a go-round under full control.

I realize that it is one thing to know ahead of time what the challenge will be and act accordingly vs. being faced with a sudden inexplicable loss-of-control situation, and also that the control surfaces (stabilator vs stabilizer on the Otter) are different. Still, in the interest of thinking through the possibilities, was there a way to maintain control of this aircraft given the facts we have?
 
MuseChaser said:
Not to show my lack of knowledge or experience (that's way too easy), but rather to continue learning....

Would there have been a way to maintain control of the aircraft? One of the emergency exercises my CFI had me do involved simulated loss of yoke control (broken cable, snapped u-joints, whatever) in my Cherokee. Was more than able to maneuver the plane using hand-crank trim, rudder, and throttle into an appropriate and safe approach to landing, although we terminated the drill about 50' AGL and did a go-round under full control.
Click to expand...
Depends on the nature of the failure. Probably, what happened when it failed is that the horizontal stabilizer went to the maximum travel. Try the loss of control exercise with the instructor holding the yoke full forward instead of in a level flight position. Trim, rudder, and throttle aren't likely to help much....

Ron Wanttaja
 
MuseChaser said:
Still, in the interest of thinking through the possibilities, was there a way to maintain control of this aircraft given the facts we have?
Click to expand...
From a mechanical standpoint, doubtful. There may have been a one in a million CG configuration that may have kept the aircraft in "level" flight, but any movement outside that configuration would have ended in the same manner. And given the DHC3 has such a large CG envelope, I'm quite sure tail control authority played a big part in that envelope so any loss of that authority would not end positively.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top