Plane en route to Bethel loses door during flight
No injuries were reported
BETHEL, Alaska (KTUU) - A Grant Aviation plane lost the back left passenger door during a flight from Eek to Bethel Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The incident took place around 6 p.m. when the plane was about five minutes from Bethel, according to the FAA. The plane, a Grant Gippsland GA-8, had six people, the pilot and five crew members, on board at the time of the incident. No one on board was injured.
The plane landed safely at Bethel Airport, according to Dan Knesek, Grant commercial operations vice president.
“Grant Aviation reported the incident to the proper authorities, and we are working to determine the root cause,” Knesek said. “No cause has been determined at this time.”
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board say the door separated while passengers were attempting to secure it during the flight.
“On Saturday evening ... our NTSB duty officer was notified of an incident involving an air van, a GA-8 air van operated by Grant Aviation,” said Clint Johnson, chief of the Alaska Regional Office for the NTSB.
Johnson said the aircraft was operating a scheduled flight from Eek to Bethel when the incident occurred.
“What we were told by the operator is while en route … the left side door separated from the airplane,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, passengers in the back of the aircraft had been attempting to latch the door before it came off the plane.
“We do understand that there was some problems that led up to this trying to get the door latched from the passengers in the back,” Johnson said.
“The passengers tried to get the door re-latched again. Unfortunately, as soon as they let go of it, the door slid back and departed the aircraft.”
Johnson said incidents involving doors separating from aircraft mid-flight are uncommon, though the GA-8 Airvan uses a different type of door than many aircraft.
“It’s not very common on a general aviation aircraft,” Johnson said.
“You have to understand that the GA-8 or the air van door is a little different than the standard door. It’s a sliding door on the left side.”
One of the major concerns in incidents like this, Johnson said, is whether the detached door could strike critical control surfaces on the aircraft’s tail.
“One of the biggest concerns that we had is obviously any kind of damage to the tail section, either the vertical or the horizontal stabilizers, the control surfaces on the tail of the airplane,” Johnson said.
“Thankfully, in this case, it never contacted it, so there was no damage.”
The NTSB is not currently opening a formal investigation into the incident but is monitoring the situation while working with the airline.
“At this point it isn’t [a formal investigation],” Johnson said.
“Grant Aviation, in light of this, immediately grounded all the Airvans and inspected those doors to make sure that there were no issues again.”
Johnson said the agency will continue to monitor the situation and determine whether additional action is needed.
“But at this point right now, I don’t foresee assigning a number unless something changes here,” he said.
Despite the mid-air incident, Johnson said the outcome could have been far worse.
“This had a great outcome,” Johnson said. “Obviously it was probably a little bit of an exciting ride for the folks that were on board, but there was no damage to the aircraft other than the door separating from the aircraft, and thankfully no injuries.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details from investigators.
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