By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

An aircraft accident at the Dutch Harbor, Unalaska airport April 9 has Akutan residents and business leaders worried about being stranded in the Eastern Aleutian Islands without air service.

Eight passengers and the Peninsula Air pilot suffered relatively minor injuries in the accident that involved an aircraft and a truck.

The Grumman Goose is an amphibious twin-engine aircraft owned by Peninsula Airways. The flight, on final approach on a flight from Akutan landing in Unalaska, was nearing the runway at about 4:30 p.m., when it hit a tractor-trailer, according to the Unalaska Department of Public Safety.

The aircraft sustained extensive damage and was taken out of service, leaving residents of the Aleutians East Borough with reduced air transportation. It is the second accident to Pen Air Grumman Goose aircraft used for the island service.

“We used to have three commercial Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft serving the Akutan area. Last summer, one plane that is part of the Grumman Goose fleet ended up with a broken wing, so that aircraft was taken out of commission,” Akutan Mayor Joe Bereskin said in a written release. “Now after this recent accident, we're down to one amphibious aircraft serving Akutan.”

Having only one operating aircraft puts everyone in a precarious position, he said. If something happens to the remaining Grumman craft, Akutan would be without air transportation.

“The health and welfare of our 859 citizens are at risk,” the mayor said. “That's a great concern to us.”

Officials at Pen Air said they are also concerned about service to Akutan.

“This is an unfortunate accident. We are glad that the passengers and pilot were not seriously injured, but this has destroyed the aircraft, and we don't know how much longer we can continue service to Akutan,” said Danny Seybert, president of Peninsula Airways.

The Goose is a 1940's aircraft capable of landing in the ocean, described by Seybert as a “flying boat.” Pen Air has one left in Dutch Harbor, and knows of another for lease in California.

“The problem is that parts for these aircraft are no longer available and the aircraft have to go in for service every 50 hours (of flying time),” Seybert said.

Seybert said that the damaged aircraft would be rebuilt, but that could take as much as eight months for completion.

“In the meantime, we have found a Goose to lease, but it could take as much as 60 days to get it approved by the Federal Aviation Administration,” he said.

Seybert said the Grumman aircraft are rare, with only 20 flying in the world. Most are collector's items.

“We figure that our aircraft are worth $500,000 each, but some of them go for as high as $800,000,” said Seybert.

Few of the aircraft are still in use commercially, with four being used in British Columbia, one in Dillingham, and Pen Air's Goose in Dutch Harbor.

Akutan currently has no airport and the service required the aircraft has to land in ocean swells to pick up passengers from the island community.

A new airport is planned at Akutan, however. An environmental impact statement is currently underway, with completion set for 2010.

“This has created a situation where the best we can do is to provide about a 30 percent reliability factor on our schedules,” said Seybert.

Pen Air has flown to Akutan since 1977.

According to city and state officials, the pilot appeared to have properly signaled the aircraft's approach and triggered a light-warning system, but a mechanical gate, which apparently had not been working for several years, allowed the truck to enter the landing zone.

National Transportation Safety Board Investigator Clint Johnson said the aircraft was flying in from Akutan when it came down on the truck as the tractor-trailer rig passed through the flight path on Ballyhoo Road, a widely used thoroughfare at the end of the runway.

Seybert said that the company now has a new procedure at the Dutch Harbor airport.

“Our new procedure at Dutch is to drive a truck out there and block the road anytime we have an aircraft on the ramp or runway. If traffic doesn't stop we will ram them, ” Seybert said.

Rob Stapleton can be reached at rob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com.