OAK HARBOR, Wash. — Six of the ten victims who were killed in a deadly floatplane crash in early September have been recovered from the water off Whidbey Island, according to Island County Emergency Management.
Ten people were killed when the floatplane took a nosedive into the water in Mutiny Bay on Sept. 4. The flight was a regularly scheduled commuter flight out of Friday Harbor that was supposed to land at the Renton Municipal Airport.
Island County Emergency Management said six bodies have been recovered with five of them positively identified. One of the bodies recovered has not yet been identified.
The body of one passenger, later identified as Gabbie Hanna, was previously recovered by a good Samaritan at the crash site.
As of Thursday, 80% of the floatplane’s wreckage has been recovered, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy. Crews began recovering wreckage Tuesday, and recovery is expected to last several more days.
The U.S. Navy is using a work class remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Drone 8000, a barge and a crane to recover the wreckage from the seafloor. The ROV will collect smaller pieces of wreckage into baskets for the crane to lift, the NTSB said. The recovery is a "24/7 operation."
There was “substantial damage” to the plane, Homendy said.
The team still needs to recover one wing, a piece of the horizontal stabilizer and both elevators – which deal with pitch or the up and down movement of an airplane – and the ailerons – which deal with the roll of an airplane. Most of these components are critical to an NTSB investigation, Homendy said.
The water’s current has been problematic for floatplane recovery. Homendy said there were times when the underwater roving vehicle couldn’t move or it was very difficult to see, so crews had to bring the machinery out of the water until the current died down. The current is one factor that will determine how long recovery will take.
Officials said determining the probable cause for the accident could take between 12-24 months.
The NTSB released its preliminary report on Sept. 16 detailing the moments leading to the floatplane crash. NTSB said the information contained in the report is preliminary and subject to change as the investigation progresses.
The family of victims Lauren Hilty, Ross Mickel and Luca Mickel issued a statement Thursday saying:
"Words cannot adequately convey the depth of our grief. The past three weeks have been absolute torture as we continue to anxiously await the retrieval of the plane and, more importantly, our loved ones. Our hope is this retrieval process is successful, but we know this is just the first step on our long, painful road ahead."
David and Marcie von Beck, the parents of Gabbie Hanna, also issued a statement saying:
“We all so hope that the recovery effort is successful and that everybody’s loved ones are recovered and the cause of this horrific crash is determined. We miss our dear Gabby every day, with all of our hearts. She was truly a shining star.”