Global Courant 2023-05-22 00:25:52
A small private jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 40 miles west of Half Moon Bay on Saturday following a distress call for help, killing two people on board.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane was a Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter en route from Santa Rosa-Sonoma County Airport to Honolulu.
Two hours later, it was forced to turn over due to what the pilot told them were “mechanical problems,” a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.
The small turboprop aircraft is listed on aviation sites as typical with a range of about 700 milesbut FAA records show that the aircraft was fitted with a refueling system to allow for longer flights.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane took off from Santa Rosa around 8:20 a.m. but turned back, bound for a small public airstrip in Half Moon Bay, where it crashed at 2:15 p.m.
Tracking by Flightradar showed that the Twin Otter turboprop turned around at about 10:40 a.m. and headed back to Santa Rosa until about 1:15 p.m., when it diverted to Half Moon Bay and began to descend. Fifteen minutes later it went wrong.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out a warning from San Francisco at 1:40 p.m. for a “small plane in distress” southwest of the Farallon Islands, advising sailors to look for people in a yellow life raft. But when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter reached the site, the crew found the plane upside down in the water, with the occupants still inside, Petty Officer Matthew West said.
National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Sarah Taylor Sulick said there were no other passengers on board and NTSB investigators are in the process of recovering the plane.
The identities of the pilot and copilot have not been released. The NTSB said it was still determining ownership of the plane. FAA records show it was registered with a trust administered by the Bank of Utah.
2 killed in small plane crash off coast of
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