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The challenges of finding and recovering the crashed floatplane near Whidbey Island

Department of Fish and Wildlife was assisting in the search for the plane wreckage off Whidbey Island, but its sonar equipment wasn't working in such a wide area.

WHIDBEY ISLAND STATION, Wash. — The NTSB is now requesting help from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in locating a downed floatplane that crashed into the Puget Sound near Whidbey Island last weekend. 

Crews with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) were assisting with the search but suspended their efforts because their sonar equipment is ill-suited for the location, an NTSB spokesperson said. 

The WDFW's equipment is intended to search in tightly focused areas but the NTSB needs the capability to search over a more expansive zone.

Data and witness reports indicated the floatplane took a nosedive before plummeting into Mutiny Bay on Sunday, Sept. 4, with 10 people on board. All nine passengers and the pilot are presumed dead.

The plane departed from Friday Harbor and was headed for the Renton Municipal Airport in a scheduled commuter flight. 

The Island County dispatch center was inundated with 911 calls, claiming a plane had fallen out of the sky.

“Everything about the call was very different,” said Terry Ney, Deputy Chief of Operations for the South Whidbey Fire EMS.

“We go into it assuming it’s going to be a rescue, but of course, we found out differently,” said Ney. He and his crew were some of the first on the water Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday, one passenger was recovered along with plane parts. The NTSB said in a statement to KING 5 that foam fragments, a seat cushion, seat belt, dispatch paperwork, flooring structure and personal items have also been found.

Water in the area where the plane crashed can be hundreds of feet deep. Ney said his crew clocked depths between 100 to 200 feet during Sunday’s recovery. The NTSB says their search area is between 100 to 300 feet deep.

"We don’t know the condition of the aircraft, it’s a challenge when you’re working in water of that depth," said Tom Chapman with the NTSB.

The depth and drop-offs are one reason Ney said they don’t have a dive team. 

“It requires very specialized equipment to dive 150 to 200 feet. It involves specialized gases, specialized training, and equipment. There are just a few commercial dive companies that do offer that service,” said Ney.

Add in the tides and current, the water can move fast. 

“A three-knot current is like a 3.5 mile per hour current, it’s a huge volume of water moving that fast, so it can easily move something the size of an airplane,” said Ney.

The search for this floatplane continues, despite the rough waters they face.

“It’s a challenging place to work,” said Ney. 

The NTSB says a normal investigation will take between 18 and 24 months, but they aren’t certain how long this will take as they haven’t located the plane yet. A spokesperson said they are "confident" the plane will be located.

    

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