Alaska plane crash: How safe are small aircraft?
Nine people traveling on an excursion plane from a Holland American Line cruise ship died on Thursday after their plane crashed in Alaska, police and the aircraft company confirmed. The plane went down during a tour of the Misty Fjords region of southern Alaska. The cause of the crash has not yet been confirmed, but the National Weather Service said that conditions at the nearby Ketchikan International Airport were overcast and rainy at the time.
"There is nothing I can say that can alleviate the pain and overwhelming sense of loss," Marcus Sessoms, president of Promech Air, the flight鈥檚 operator, said in a statement following the crash.
Eight passengers and a pilot were on board the plane.
The 8 passengers had been traveling on a cruise ship that departed from聽Seattle聽on Saturday聽for a seven-day round trip, the cruise line confirmed in a statement. The Promech Air excursion flight was sold through Holland America Line, a unit of Carnival Corp. 聽Promech鈥檚 sightseeing flights around the Misty Fjords National Monument offer views of "towering granite cliffs,聽1,000-foot waterfalls, lush and remote valleys and serene crystalline lakes," its website says.
Ketchikan, the area where the crash took place, is a popular summertime cruise destination about 230 miles south of Alaska鈥檚 state capital Juneau.
In July 2013, four people on a similar Promech-owned聽plane were injured after the aircraft suffered engine failure and crashed into trees on a nearby Island,聽the聽Alaska聽Dispatch News聽reported.
An by the Government Accountability Office found that the highest incidence of fatal accidents in general aviation occur on small, single-engine piston airplanes after pilots lose control of the aircrafts. Bad weather and poor pilot training are the most common contributing factors during a crash.
In February 2015, a small, single passenger plane crashed in Colorado when the pilot lost control of the aircraft after allegedly taking a selfie with his smart-phone.
Commercial flights, however, are safer than ever,聽the Monitor reported in April.
In 2014, the International Air Transport Association聽聽that there were 12 fatal accidents out of 38 million flights for all aircraft types that year.
This report includes material from Reuters and the Associated Press.
