Princess passengers in aircrash

[Aus Traveller]

Passengers from the Royal Princess on her first cruise to Alaska have been involved in an aircrash. While the Royal Princess was in Ketchikan, a sightseeing plane on a short excursion crashed into the sea along with another plane. It was reported that the planes collided. Reports say there were 16 people involved. Coast Guard boats and other craft responded and pulled people out of the water. One person is in critical condition, three are serious and another six are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. It has not been confirmed if some other people are still missing.

[Aus Traveller]

FAA is calling it a mid air collision. The 10 people who have been recovered we're all from the same plane. One person from that plane is still missing, and the five from the other plane or also still missing. 

 

https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/nation-world/article230364314.html

 

The latest announcement said there are three confirmed dead and three still missing. Terribly sad for their families. This tragedy would also impact on other passengers and the crew on the Royal Princess.

 

PS. The latest report also says that all 14 passengers in the planes were from the Royal Princess.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[Gnomey]

Indeed terribly sad news all round. It is all over the internet at the moment too. Latest I read were two floatplanes, one a Beaver the other an Otter involved in a mid air crash. The only survivors are apparently from the Otter, the occupants of the Beaver all perrished.

 

Steve.

[Dobby_The_Ship_Elf]

So very very sad for all concerned.

 

What a terrible thing to happen on one of those 'once in a life time cruises'

[OzKiwiJJ]

Very sad indeed. 

[neil.roberts.77985]

I did that tour 2 years ago this month (It was with Celebrity not Princess).  So very sad, it such a beautiful part of the world......

[MicCanberra]

Terrible situation , hope they can all recover.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Terrible situation , hope they can all recover.

I mean that I hope the survivors will recover, as well as the family and friends of all concerned. Such a terrible thing to happen.

[cheznandy]

It is being reported that an Australian is missing, there were a few Aussies on the Rollcall for this cruise, a couple of them known to us from this forum.

I hope you are all safe and ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Yes, and aussie and a Canadian missing.

[cheznandy]

42 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Yes, and aussie and a Canadian missing.

Mic, I just read that the two missing have been confirmed dead.

 

Just to add, from what I can work out from the conflicting reports is that 9 of the 10 passengers and the pilot from the larger plane chartered by the ship survived, and 4 passengers and the pilot of the independent tour have died.

All persons were from the Royal Princess.

This is more recent info 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-15/australian-among-six-killed-in-alaska-seaplane-crash/11113682

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by cheznandy

[MicCanberra]

Thanks yes they have found the two missing bodies, very sad.

[The_Big_M]

In an interesting repetition...

 

"Meanwhile, Princess Cruises has permanently canceled all excursions with the tour company Taquan Air, operator of the plane, Benson said.

"We are devastated to report that our passengers and the plane's pilot perished in the accident," Benson said. "Our shoreside care team is doing everything possible to help their families through this difficult tragedy, and we share in their grief."

The passengers were among 1,950 people aboard the Sun Princess."

 

The wording above was from an incident involving 4 deaths with the same airline and cruise company - but in 2007. It was also the same type of plane that had the most deaths on this occurrence.

 

Too early to know what happened this time, but unfortunately not the first incident of this nature in that region.

Edited May 15, 2019 by The_Big_M

[cheznandy]

46 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

In an interesting repetition...

 

"Meanwhile, Princess Cruises has permanently canceled all excursions with the tour company Taquan Air, operator of the plane, Benson said.

"We are devastated to report that our passengers and the plane's pilot perished in the accident," Benson said. "Our shoreside care team is doing everything possible to help their families through this difficult tragedy, and we share in their grief."

The passengers were among 1,950 people aboard the Sun Princess."

 

The wording above was from an incident involving 4 deaths with the same airline and cruise company - but in 2007. It was also the same type of plane that had the most deaths on this occurrence.

 

Too early to know what happened this time, but unfortunately not the first incident of this nature in that region.

Big M, I had read another post where someone stated they were surprised that Princess was still using Taquan Air after that incident.

We have flown Misty Fjords with Michelle from Island Wings, in the Beaver, 6 of us and Michelle. It was the most amazing, beautiful scenery, and I just went through all our photos yesterday, it is so isolated.

I am hoping to book the Sun Princess tomorrow for it's Tokyo to Vancouver sector May 2021, we did something like it on the Diamond in 2013 and was one of our best ever cruises.

[patch nine]

 

It was said on the news last night that the passengers were on an independent excursion

Edited May 15, 2019 by patch nine

[Aus Traveller]

8 minutes ago, patch nine said:

 

It was said on the news last night that the passengers were on an independent excursion

All the passengers involved were from the Royal Princess. The passengers in the smaller plane were on an independent excursion, while the others were on a Shore Excursion organised by Princess. It has been revealed that the larger plane descended on top of the 'independent tour' plane that then broke up in mid air. All on board that plane died including an Australian man. It is amazing that only one person in the larger plane died.

[NSWP]

Tragic event. 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

All the passengers involved were from the Royal Princess. The passengers in the smaller plane were on an independent excursion, while the others were on a Shore Excursion organised by Princess. It has been revealed that the larger plane descended on top of the 'independent tour' plane that then broke up in mid air. All on board that plane died including an Australian man. It is amazing that only one person in the larger plane died.

Yes, it could have been much worse.

[mr walker]

Radio news this morning reported that the Aussie who was killed was a 56 year old man from Sydney with a wife & 2 kids. Very sad for all concerned.

[Aus Traveller]

15 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Radio news this morning reported that the Aussie who was killed was a 56 year old man from Sydney with a wife & 2 kids. Very sad for all concerned.

I cannot imagine how his wife felt. Obviously she didn't go on the tour. The crash happened around 1.15-1.30pm and the ship was due to depart around 3pm. One of the ship's officers would have had to advise family members of those involved in the crash. It has been reported that the Captain announced over the PA that there had been an incident. Passengers and a few crew were seen disembarking with their luggage. Princess sent crew ashore to assist family of those involved in the crash. It was only after these people had left the ship that more details were broadcast over the ship's PA and passengers learned that some people had died.

 

Princess also flew additional staff into Ketchikan to assist. One person posted a comment that his aunt and uncle were injured and had been flown to a hospital in Seattle. Princess was flying him to Seattle to be with them. Maybe they don't have any closer relatives.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[Aus Traveller]

36 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Yes, it could have been much worse.

It could have been much worse. Reading reports, I am rather surprised how many sightseeing planes have crashed in the Ketchikan area in the last few years. Obviously it isn't one every week,  but there have been quite a few. 

[MicCanberra]

54 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I cannot imagine how his wife felt. Obviously she didn't go on the tour. The crash happened around 1.15-1.30pm and the ship was due to depart around 3pm. One of the ship's officers would have had to advise family members of those involved in the crash. It has been reported that the Captain announced over the PA that there had been an incident. Passengers and a few crew were seen disembarking with their luggage. Princess sent crew ashore to assist family of those involved in the crash. It was only after these people had left the ship that more details were broadcast over the ship's PA and passengers learned that some people had died.

 

Princess also flew additional staff into Ketchikan to assist. One person posted a comment that his aunt and uncle were injured and had been flown to a hospital in Seattle. Princess was flying him to Seattle to be with them. Maybe they don't have any closer relatives.

I suppose this is where the cruise line can really help and do all they can to assist the families involved, rather than just the minimum.

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I suppose this is where the cruise line can really help and do all they can to assist the families involved, rather than just the minimum.

From what I have read about this sad incident, and occasions in the past that involve the death of someone on board, Princess go above and beyond what one would expect. 🙂

[The_Big_M]

4 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

All the passengers involved were from the Royal Princess. The passengers in the smaller plane were on an independent excursion, while the others were on a Shore Excursion organised by Princess. It has been revealed that the larger plane descended on top of the 'independent tour' plane that then broke up in mid air. All on board that plane died including an Australian man. It is amazing that only one person in the larger plane died.

 

Without having read anything else, that would make sense that the greater impact would be on the plane below. It would likely cause some wing or tail damage to the lower plane, which then affects its flying ability. Whereas the plane on top would be contacting with its skids which are designed to hold the weight of the plane in any case, and doesn't impact its flying ability (or if there was some fuselage, sensor or cable impact, the flying impact would be much less.)

 

If it did descend on to the lower plane that does put the responsibility back on the Taquan air craft.

Edited May 16, 2019 by The_Big_M

[MicCanberra]

Pilot error or equipment failure, either one has resulted in a terrible accident.