TSB Report on Lyall Harbour Beaver Accident

[RatherBeFlying]

http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/medias-med ... 9P0397.asp

The occurrence aircraft originally served in the United States military during which time it was equipped with doors that could be jettisoned. The aircraft was first imported into Canada in the 1970s. As the jettisonable doors were not certified for civilian use in Canada, they were replaced with regular doors.

i.e. killed by TC bureaucracy The end of the report is a long and sad list of floatplane accidents where occupants failed to get out and drowned.

[High and Behind]

Thats a tough read.
Knowing "The Pilot" and having flown in and out of Lyall Harbour hundreds of times.
Not sure what to say.

I guess more can always be done.
But I can't help but think that TC would love nothing more than every float plane to just magically disapear from there books.

[Widow]

The end of the report is a long and sad list of floatplane accidents where occupants failed to get out and drowned.

The list does not include A05P0039, in which at least one (my husband), and probably five, men drowned after escaping their downed Beaver floatplane near Campbell River.

[Expat]

If I remember well, in a C-206, the cargo/passenger door cannot be opened when the flaps are down. That could also lead to problems when operated on floats...

[Sky Pilot]

The 206 has an optional front right-hand door mod that can be put in. I flew a 206 on floats without that, and I felt a bit claustrophobic. I would like to see the right-hand door mandatory for the seaplane 206. It's worth the $20,000.

[square]

Half of the cargo door can be opened with the flaps down on a 206. If you open the handle the forward cargo door comes out 2 inches, enabling you to open the aft cargo door and egress through there. It's a passenger briefing item too. I'm not sure if it was totally understood by all the passengers I told though because it's a bit tricky to do it. Easy to see it being a problem underwater.

[StudentPilot]

I agree with Sky Pilot about the right door being mandatory, but I'm sure the operators would scream bloody murder over $20,000 or whatever it costs to get it installed. My other thought was why no one ever made a mod so the rear half of the cargo door opened first, then the forward half, so that in an emergency with flaps down half of the door still easily opens. I think it would be a huge benefit since many passengers sitting in the back haven't opened the door with the flaps down often or ever, not to mention the likelihood of the plane being upside down, immersed in cold water, and/or the passenger being scared sh!tless.

I have never flown a Beaver, so are the Alaskan doors usable as an emergency exit? Mostly thinking about high capacity seating configurations and that it might give the rearmost passengers their own exit instead of having to go forward to the main cabin doors.

[High and Behind]

My other thought was why no one ever made a mod so the rear half of the cargo door opened first

That would never get certified. The what if being ...what if it came open in flight.

Not that big a deal to you and i used to external load drag and such but the regulators would want a whole new set of performance figures and such for the door popping open in flight. etc, etc,etc,

[ArcticKat]

CBC has tken up the cause...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... eport.html