Taquan Air (K3, Ketchikan International) has restarted passenger and cargo operations with its seaplanes, after voluntarily suspending operations on May 21 in the wake of its involvement in two fatal crashes over a seven-day period.
As of June 3, tickets for flights were available to book on the airline's website between Ketchikan Harbor SPB and Metlakatla, scene of a fatal crash of a Taquan Air DHC-2 Beaver aircraft on May 20. Flights from Ketchikan to Coffman Cove, Craig, Dora Bay, Edna Bay, Hollis SPB, Hydaburg, Hyder, Naukiti, Point Baker, Port Protection, Thorne Bay, and Whale Pass have also resumed.
Six people died in the first accident, a midair collision near Ketchikan on May 13 involving one of its aircraft, a DHC-3, and a DHC-2 operated by Mountain Air Service (Ketchikan Harbor SPB).
Taquan Air resumed cargo-only operations on May 23 after reaching agreement on risk-reduction measures with the Juneau Flight Standards District Office of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Anchorage Daily News reported.
The FAA did not ground the company, Ian Gregor, a public affairs manager with the FAA, clarified, and Taquan Air presented the FAA with an action plan to resume passenger flights starting on May 29.
However, Gary Scott from Thompson & Co., a public relations firm representing the airline, told the Alaskan broadcaster KTUU on May 29 that the company was still undergoing a voluntary operations audit and would not resume passenger services until the results were complete.
Now that passenger flights have resumed, the FAA's Juneau office said it was incorporating multiple risk-mitigating strategies and had brought in two additional safety inspectors with Alaska floatplane experience to conduct surveillance and inspections, KTUU said.
A preliminary report on the May 20 crash was released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on May 31, stating that the pilot, 51, had been hired for the 2019 summer season. Of his approximately 1,600 flight hours' experience, just five were with floatplanes.
