The airport at Unalaska is now open. The Department of Transportation said there’s no damage to the runway and the disabled PenAir Saab 2000 plane has been removed and loaded onto a barge.
“Our sincere appreciation to everyone involved in this effort: City of Unalaska – police and fire, and public works, PenAir, Ravn, Alaska Air, Resolve Fire and Salvage, Lifemed, Coast Guard, NTSB, FAA, DOT&PF and many others including the good samaritans who assisted with the response,” DOT wrote in a statement.
The PenAir turbo-prop plane that ran off the end of the runway on Thursday was lifted by crane on Saturday afternoon, as shown in this series of photos provided by Jake Whitaker of Unalaska:
Reports from passengers indicate that the plane, which was on its second landing attempt, landed fine but then just didn’t stop.
Alaska Airlines suspended service to Unalaska until Monday. The airline doesn’t fly into Unalaska, but contracts with PenAir, a subsidiary of Ravn Air. But having no commercial service doesn’t prevent private pilots from using the runway now that the airport is open.
Airport Beach, Ballyhoo, and East Point Roads reopened Saturday evening.
A photo posted by passenger Cody Lee on Facebook shows a propeller blade inside the cabin:
Cody Lee, a passenger on the flight, posted this photo on Facebook on Saturday, writing: I’m at a loss, the last couple days have been pretty rough and completely unreal, seeing this photo makes me even more grateful we are alive and absolutely sure that we were being watched over…this woman’s son was in this seat pictured and was in the same row baby and I were sitting. (edit: this was her husband’s seat, her son was behind us) The young man sitting to my right, I’m told is named Charlie Carroll (a high schooler!) made his first concern getting me and Frankie off the plane immediately, as we didn’t know if we were in the water or if there was a fire…he showed such bravery (all the students did) and true selflessness which is admirable for anyone, let alone someone so young. Him and his family will always hold a special place in our hearts and I thank him from the bottom of my heart, along with Wendy, Jacob and Steve, and the everyone else who survived such a horrible event with my family. From one mom to another, you should be so proud Wendy Armstrong Ranney and Lisa Ross Carroll, and all the other parents, hold your babies tight today and always! All our love! ??? My heart goes out to the family of Dave, who didn’t make it. My sincere and heartfelt condolences. ?
Obviously pilot error on a difficult approach God be with everyone.
The root cause of an accident is seldom ‘obvious’.
Who’s to blame shouldn’t really even matter to us.
What should matter is what we can learn from this unfortunate event.
Such sorrow and the greatest human kindnesses. Thank you Cody Lee for writing.
Thank you for clarifying the point.
Sorry about the financial demise of your company. Pen Air provided great service for many years.
Obviously pilot error on a difficult approach God be with everyone.
The root cause of an accident is seldom ‘obvious’.
Who’s to blame shouldn’t really even matter to us.
What should matter is what we can learn from this unfortunate event.
Such sorrow and the greatest human kindnesses. Thank you Cody Lee for writing.
Thank you for clarifying the point.
Sorry about the financial demise of your company. Pen Air provided great service for many years.
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