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6 Dead in Alaska Sightseeing crash, 5 off Holland American Ship

dkjretired

By dkjretired,
in Celebrity Cruises

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mayleeman

mayleeman

Posted
Posted (edited)

Float plane, not helicopter. Looks from the article like it was an independent excursion, not ship sponsored. One concern I would have just from the sparse details in the article is that the ceiling was only at 900 ft, and 2 miles visibility. Reminds me too much of Kobe's flight in low visibility conditions in the coastal mtns (that was a helicopter). 

Edited by mayleeman
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Mike981

Mike981

Posted
Posted

So sad. I read an article last year that was talking about how hard it is for them to come up with solutions for this in Alaska, including the tragic accident that Fouremco mentioned. If I remember correctly it is the type of planes, the terrain and I believe that most if not all are small independent business's and are regulated differently than a major airline.

I believe that this is the article.

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EMc&DrS

EMc&DrS

Posted
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We were on an MSC cruise in Belize when several passengers from our ship and from a Carnival ship were killed in a head-on collision when returning to port from a private excursion.  It was not their driver's fault, but the van had no seatbelts. There was definitely a sadness onboard once the news spread--it was the evening before Thanksgiving.  Our butler had to help remove everything from the stateroom of one of the families involved before we could set sail.  He was really rattled. 

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dani negreanu

dani negreanu

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

She's very safety conscious and will not go up if the weather is not suitable.

 

She was a gem - she immediately noticed that I'm so afraid in the small plane, and, on our way back to port, she placed me near her, so that I'll feel safer.

P1040259.JPG

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ClaudiaB

ClaudiaB

Posted
Posted

Oh my gosh, that's horrible.    And....that's the same airline we used independently once out of Ketchikan to go to Misty Fjords!   I remember the name well.  Sometimes I've told people DON'T take it.    It was a situation we should have backed out of but we didn't.    It was a typical misty rainy foggy Ketchikan day and over half the airlines cancelled.   But not ours.   I have no idea why we didn't, guess we thought it was ok if they went.  Pretty dumb and we're grateful we are alive to tell the tale. Pilot was telling us there is no radar on the plane but they "talk" to the other planes to see where they are so they don't run into each other.  What???!!!!!!    There were cans and bottles and papers rolling around the floor and seats were dirty.   It was a bumpy ride out to Misty Fjords and when we got on the water it was clear and beautiful but I was so freaked out.   He took a different route back that was shorter because I was seriously upset.   I don't love flying anyway but this had been something I wanted to do and had the weather been clear it would have been beautiful.   It wasn't and they still flew and I'll never do one of those little planes again, clear day or not.  Never.  

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Dancing Shoes

Dancing Shoes

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Mike981 said:

So sad. I read an article last year that was talking about how hard it is for them to come up with solutions for this in Alaska, including the tragic accident that Fouremco mentioned. If I remember correctly it is the type of planes, the terrain and I believe that most if not all are small independent business's and are regulated differently than a major airline.

I believe that this is the article.

That was a good article.  It may have been prevented.  We flew with Randy of Mountain Air Service in August 2018.  The final finding was that the other plane operated by Taquan had a safety feature that was not working and had been disabled.  It would have shown Randy where they were.  Unfortunately,  Randy had his working, but it needs both to operate.  There were no fines.

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iamaqt2 "Live from...." Rare

iamaqt2

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I'm not sure what the weather was in port that day.  We had a fantastic day of weather in Ketchikan on 8/1 and I was sitting on my balcony watching all the float planes return and land.  I remember thinking to myself how many times I've heard that Misty Fjords had been canceled due to inclement weather.  I must have seen at least 8 float planes come back one after the other.

20210801_145618.jpg

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tiggy85

tiggy85

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

She was a gem - she immediately noticed that I'm so afraid in the small plane, and, on our way back to port, she placed me near her, so that I'll feel safer.

P1040259.JPG

I have booked with her for next month and was starting to freak out about the tour after reading this latest news. Thank you for sharing - she seems wonderful! 

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dani negreanu

dani negreanu

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, tiggy85 said:

Thank you for sharing - she seems wonderful! 

 

She is. Enjoy your trip !!

 

That's the review I've wrote about her tour in TripAdvisor --

 

Michelle and the views - The BEST !!!

Reviewed August 11, 2013

I've booked this tour based on the excellent reviews on TA, even if I'm quite afraid of flying…
Michelle was fantastic – a very nice person and a real pro – she felt that I was not feeling my best during the flight and kindly suggested I should stay in the co-pilot chair for the flight back, ensuring that I'll feel better. During the whole flight I felt that I'm in good hands. I'd also like to mention, beside the amazing views and the whole organization of the tour – all timely and top-notch – that I'm not good at taking pictures. Since my husband is the "official" photographer on all our trips, but this time he was even more afraid than me to take the flight, he gave me a "crash" course in photography just before the flight. I figured I'll just click away and at least some pictures will come out of this, but, during the flight, I understood that either I'll look at the scenery or I'll take pictures, because I didn't feel my best. I preferred the scenery. After we landed on the lake and had some time with Michelle, she took some pictures for me, and also she was kind enough to take very good pictures during the flight back, including me sitting on the front. It was the only tour during a whole series of tours taken during the cruise to Alaska, and before that in Toronto and Vancouver, that I didn't feel that I'm only a source of income. Thank you, Michelle, for being such a beautiful human being, who added another dimension to breathtaking views.

Date of experience: July 2013
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Fly and Sail "Live from...." Rare

Fly and Sail

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Fouremco said:

In 2019, 6 Princess passengers died when two sightseeing planes crashed in Alaska. It's so sad to see another tragic loss of life.

 

And just like 2019 this happened while our ship was docked in the same port as this time. Back in 2019 the passengers who perished came from Princess but my friends seated at the same table took the same float plane company that day and were pretty shaken.

 

We just left Ketchikan a few days ago and yesterday a friend sent me these terrible news once again. RIP!

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