ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - In a story Nov. 8 about a federal report of a floatplane crash in Alaska, The Associated Press reported erroneously the crash location and origination point of the flight in July 2018. The flight originated from Noyes Island and crashed on Mount Jumbo, about 9 miles east of Hydaburg.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Report on Alaska crash notes FAA oversight error
A US agency has noted an oversight error by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of its investigation of a floatplane crash in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A U.S. agency has noted an oversight error by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of its investigation of a floatplane crash in Alaska.
The report by the National Transportation Safety Board that includes passenger and employee interviews and all other data related to the July 2018 accident criticized FAA oversight of the company operating the flight, The Anchorage Daily News reported Thursday.
There were no deaths when the de Havilland Otter owned by Taquan Air crashed on Mount Jumbo, located about nine miles east of Hydaburg. Six passengers were seriously hurt and four sustained minor injuries on the flight originating from Noyes Island.
The NTSB report said the FAA allowed Taquan to keep an operations director who was at times too busy to oversee flight safety because of another aviation job away from the Ketchikan-based company.
The operations director was responsible for ensuring policies were followed while Taquan did not have a director of safety, the report said.
Taquan was operating about 60 flights a day with a director of operations who had moved to Anchorage after taking a chief pilot job at Grant Aviation, a larger operator of commuter flights.
The operations director had not been to Taquan in a month or possibly two at the time of the crash, employees told investigators.
Working as a manager for two such carriers at the same time is prohibited by FAA regulations, the report said.
FAA inspectors for Grant and Taquan both knew he worked at the two companies, the operations director told federal investigators.
The FAA said in an email to The Associated Press on Friday that it has streamlined the hiring process and increased incentives for operations inspectors.
It added it takes every accident report seriously and is reviewing this case.
___
This story has been corrected to show the flight originated from Noyes Island and crashed on Mount Jumbo, about 9 miles east of Hydaburg.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.