Cruise Ship Passengers Die During Excursion
Two Couples Take Flight In Bad Weather
Sun Princess - July 24, 2007
Sun Princess was on the second day of a 7 day cruise from Seattle to Alaska, with about 1900 passengers onboard when the ship stopped in Ketchican, Alaska.
Some passengers booked an excursion for their day in port. The excursion was on a single-engine DeHavilland Beaver float plane and had been booked as a ship-sponsored flight-seeing excursion to Misty Fjords from Ketchikan.
The plane had left Ketchikan shortly before 1:30 p.m. for a tour over Misty Fiords. A dispatcher for Taquan Air, the Ketchikan-based flight operator, reported the plane missing after trying to contact the pilot for 20 minutes without success, said Len Laurance, a Taquan spokesman.
Searchers spotted the wreckage in the area where an aircraft distress signal had been picked up, near the south arm of Rudyerd Bay about 35 miles northeast of Ketchikan.
Early reports put the plane at an elevation of 2,400 feet, but Adams said the wing portion was located higher than the fuselage, indicating the aircraft slid down after impact. This indicates the plane's pilot may not have been able to see the portion of the mountain that the wing struck, or was unable to avoid the mountain, due to some other reason.
Now, passengers are asking why the excursion, a sightseeing flight into a mountainous area wasn't cancelled due to poor weather. The morning of the crash was described by passengers as stormy with poor visibility and pouring rain near the Misty Fjords National Monument.
Coast Guard helicopter crews at the heavily forested crash site were told by searchers late Tuesday, July 25 that there were no survivors, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. George Adams said.
One cruise ship passenger, who had been planning to take the flight, cancelled the day of the flight, due to the bad weather. Some passengers speculate, the pilot should have not have taken the plane out due to poor visibility.
Two couples had boarded the plane to fly over the National Monument.
Pilot Joseph H. Campbell, 56, of Ketchikan, was flying the plane with four cruise passengers onboard.
Passengers onboard were retired Worcester, Massachusetts firefighter Paul J. McManus, 60, and Marianne M. McManus, 56, of Leicester, Massachusetts.
Also onboard were Marianne McManus’s sister and brother-in-law William F. Eddy and Jeanne J. Eddy, both 59, who had homes in Jacksonville, Florida and Baltimore, Alaska State Troopers said.
Sun Princess has decided to suspend all sightseeing flights indefinitely.
