Pilot views obstructed, alerts missing in 2019 midair plane crash

Apr 20, 2021 @ 7:57am

FILE - In this photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB investigator Clint Crookshanks, left, and member Jennifer Homendy stand near the site of some of the wreckage of the DHC-2 Beaver, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, that was involved in a midair collision near Ketchikan, Alaska, a couple of days earlier. The pilots of two Alaskan sightseeing planes that collided in midair couldn't see the other aircraft because airplane structures or a passenger blocked their views, and they didn't get electronic alerts about close aircraft because safety systems weren't working properly. That's what the staff of the National Transportation Safety board found in their investigation. (Peter Knudson/NTSB via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilots of two Alaskan sightseeing planes that collided in midair couldn’t see the other aircraft because airplane structures or a passenger blocked their views. They also didn’t get electronic alerts about close aircraft because safety systems weren’t working properly. That’s what the staff of the National Transportation Safety board found in their investigation of the May 2019 crash, which killed six people. Ten others were injured when the aircraft converged at 3,350 feet (1,021 meters). The Ketchikan-based floatplanes carrying passengers from the same cruise ship, the Royal Princess, were returning from tours of Misty Fjords National Monument. The planes collided just after noon over the west side of George Inlet.