Allison Smith, 2007-08-16
5 others not identified
Pilot faulted in crash that killed 6 near Ketchikan
By JAMES HALPIN, jhalpin@adn.com, Published: December 10th
A pilot's poor decision-making and inadequate planning caused an August 2007 floatplane
crash near Ketchikan that killed six people, including members from three generations
of an Oregon family, according to a National Transportation Safety Board accident
report released Wednesday.
The accident took place about 20 miles north of Ketchikan shortly after a de Havilland
DHC-2 floatplane, operated by Seawind Aviation, left the Traitors Cove area after
a two-hour bear-viewing tour. The aircraft, which took off directly into strong
winds, banked steeply to the left after going airborne, then crashed into a stand
of trees along the bay, sparking a fire.
One girl, 3-year-old Allison Smith, was critically burned but survived for several
months. She died in October. The Aug. 16 crash killed her parents, twin brother
and grandfather. A California man also died.
The only surviving family member aboard was the girl's grandmother, Mindy Mayer
of Oregon City, Ore. The pilot, Clifford Steve Kamm, and another woman passenger
also survived.
"In this type of an accident, we don't have any data recorders to go back to and
analyze and take a look at," said NTSB investigator Clint Johnson. "All that we're
able to go by is witness accounts and the physical wreckage."
Kamm told the NTSB that he had 17,000 flight hours and 7,000 hours in a de Havilland
DHC-2, according to the report. He reported that southeasterly winds were increasing,
causing choppy waters, while he waited for the tour to return to the plane the day
of the crash.
To avoid the rising waves, Kamm decided to take off toward the sheltered interior
of the bay -- in a direction of rising terrain that he had not attempted before,
the report says.
As he attempted to turn the aircraft around, the airplane hit a downdraft, which
held it from climbing above the closing landscape, and caused the plane to stall
at about 60 feet, the NTSB said.
The NTSB was unable to find any mechanical problems with the aircraft during a post-accident
inspection.
Instead, the pilot put the aircraft into an aerodynamic stall as a result of "poor
decision-making and inadequate planning and execution when he took off toward nearby
rising terrain, in strong winds, under circumstances where his options for maneuvering
were severely limited and where his safety margin was, thus, insufficient," the
report concludes.
The Federal Aviation Administration previously conducted its own investigation on
how the flight was operated -- assessing the number of seat belts on board and prevailing
weather conditions -- and concluded no punitive action was required, said FAA spokesman
Mike Fergus.
"They did not find any violation of careless or recklessness," Fergus said. "We
did ask the pilot to take a reexamination, which he did 13 months after the accident
when he recovered from his injuries. ... He passed that with no problem."
According to state business records, Seawind Aviation, a joint venture between Kamm
and his wife, Lesley Kamm, remains in operation.
Calls to the Kamms' business and home went unanswered Wednesday. Find James Halpin
online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.