Floatplane Wreckage Found After Deadly Crash Near Whidbey Island

The National Transportation Safety Board has found the remains of a floatplane that crashed in Puget Sound earlier this month, killing everyone onboard, according to a Monday (September 12) update from the agency.

The DHC-3 Turbine Otter crashed into Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island on Sunday, September 4. Only one of the 10 victims has been recovered so far, and officials hope to find the other bodies now that the aircraft has been located.

NTSB worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory to locate the wreckage. The next step is recovering the floatplane, which won't be an easy task, according to experts. Since the wreckage is sitting 190 feet underwater and there's a current of 3 to 5 knots, officials are going to use a remotely-operated vehicle to recover the aircraft.

“What would make it so difficult there is that current that they’re in and the turbidity or the poor visibility of the water, so it would be a dangerous dive under those circumstances,” said Kathleen Bangs, a former pilot and aviation expert, told KIRO 7.

Investigators say it'll take two years to release the final report on the tragic incident.

“In this accident, there is no voice recorder, there is no data recorder and the pilot is no longer alive for us to talk to, so the only clues, and there was no distress call, the only clues they’re really going to have to go by is looking at the structure and trying to figure out where did it break what happened, what went wrong," Bangs added.