KIRO 7 obtained the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on last month’s floatplane crash.
According to the report, inclement weather may have contributed to the crash off Sucia Island.
On July 23, the Kenmore Air floatplane was making its regular tour stops from South Lake Union in Seattle to Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor.
The plane, a Dehaviland DHC-3 Turbine Otter, took off around 4:30 p.m.
It headed north over Rosario Strait. Once northwest of Lummi Island, the pilot turned west and passed north of Sucia Island.
A short time later, the NTSB says the pilot radioed into Kenmore Air that they needed to turn around and wait for a storm to pass.
According to the report, the operator reported that there were multiple bays around Sucia Island where the pilot was authorized to land.
Around 5:19 pm. the plane made it near Shallow Bay, but the left wing dropped and the plane crashed. It caught on fire and destroyed the fuselage.
The Coast Guard’s Northwest Division sent small boats out to the scene almost immediately from their Bellingham and Port Angeles bases.
The pilot and two passengers were seriously hurt. Eight other passengers had minor injuries.
KIRO 7 spoke with a nurse practitioner from Seattle who was docked in Echo Bay at the time of the crash. She heard a radio call and rushed to help.
“This was totally not my realm, but having had medical training, it was really fantastic because there were like two EMTs, there was another trauma nurse practitioner on board myself, there was an ortho PA, and there was like an infectious disease doctor,” Emily Johnson shared.
The NTSB did not travel to the area for the investigation.
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