Some details are emerging from an investigation into a float plane that crashed Friday near Kodiak.
A de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver crashed about 11:30 a.m., soon after taking off from Kodiak, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. It was headed for Amook Bay and then Zachar Bay.
The crash happened during a scheduled stop at Uganik Lake, which is 35 miles from the city of Kodiak, said Clint Johnson, chief of the NTSB Alaska Regional Office.
“And the reason for that stop was to drop a mechanic off to be able to take a look at another Island Air airplane that was disabled there just temporarily,” he said. “This accident actually happened on takeoff when they were departing that intermediate stop.”
Johnson said three witnesses described the scene.
“During the departure to the west there were some pretty strong winds, gusty winds, and the airplane eventually took off to the west and towards an area of rising terrain, and basically, as the airplane got a little bit closer to that terrain, it started a gradual turn to the left,” Johnson said. “That turn steepened, and then unfortunately, the airplane descended nose first into the shallow waters of the lake on the western end there.”
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, there were three people on board who all sustained serious, but nonfatal injuries, and Johnson said the Coast Guard medevac’d the victims to Kodiak and then to Anchorage.
A representative of the Alaska State Troopers identified through email the victims as pilot David Schleifer and passengers Linda and Steven Suydam, all three of Kodiak.
Linda Suydam suffered leg and spinal injuries, while the pilot and Steven Suydam suffered possible injuries to their legs and head trauma, according to a Coast Guard news release, though it did not include the names of the individuals.
As far as Johnson knows, they are still at hospitals in Anchorage, and the NTSB intends to interview the pilot when he’s well enough to share his view of the events, he said.
