Wreckage could reveal cause of Miami seaplane crash

Investigators hope to recover the fuselage of a sunken seaplane to find why it broke apart and plunged into the ocean just off Miami Beach, killing all 20 people on board including three infants.

Within minutes of the crash yesterday, rescue workers, boaters and surfers converged on the oil-slicked crash scene. Nineteen bodies were recovered and divers suspended efforts to find the final body late yesterday.

Two crew and 18 passengers were on the flight to Bimini in the Bahamas. Many of the victims were returning home to the island after Christmas shopping trips.

Surfer Maurice D’Giovianni, 42, said he heard a distinct boom before a wing fell off and the plane, black plumes of flame tailing it, tumbled into the water.

“It exploded in the air, and one of the wings flew out of there,” D’Giovianni said. “The other part of the plane was on fire and it just went straight down.”

The Chalk’s Ocean Airways plane – a twin-engine Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallard built in 1947 – was operating under visual flight rules, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr also saw the crash from an island in a channel known as Government Cut that cruise ships and freighters take past South Beach into the Port of Miami.

“Everything looked normal. I didn’t think anything of it when I saw the black smoke from the pier, until I then heard the Coast Guard alarms go off,” he said.

Relatives of some of the victims went to Miami Beach, weeping over their losses. Garred Gadaon, 34, said his sister-in-law Jackey Lavarity, 38, and her 13-year-old daughter, were on the plane.

“The Christmas holiday is a joyful holiday. We had a tragic death with many of our family members and our friends. It doesn’t seem real,” said Gadaon.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board sent teams to investigate. “We’ll be looking at everything in this investigation. Nothing is off the table,” said Mark Rosenker, acting NTSB chairman.

The initial investigation will focus on locating the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and on examining maintenance logs and operations records, Rosenker said.

Much of the wreckage, including the main fuselage, is likely to be raised from the Atlantic Ocean today. Rosenker urged witnesses who made amateur video or still photographs of the crash to come forward.

The skies were cloudy at the time of the crash, but there was no rain or lightning in the area. FBI officials said there was no immediate indication of terrorism or criminal intent.

Chalk’s is too small to fall under the federal guidelines that require passengers and their luggage be inspected by Transportation Security Administration screeners, said Dale Karlen, federal security director at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Coast Guard Captain James Maes said the main part of the plane’s fuselage was submerged in about 35 feet of water that was subject to strong tidal currents because of the narrow shipping channel.

Shipping traffic in and out of the port will be suspended indefinitely, Maes added. That includes three large cruise ships that had been scheduled to depart yesterday afternoon.

The plane involved in yesterday’s crash – registered to Seaplane Adventures LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut – previously had few major reported incidents and no passengers or crew were injured in any of them, according to the FAA.

Chalk’s general manager Roger Nair said it was the airline’s first accident with a passenger fatality.

The NTSB database indicates no fatal accidents involving passengers for Chalk’s since 1982, when the database began, although two pilots died after their seaplane crashed near Key West on March 18, 1994.

Chalk’s Ocean Airways was founded in 1919 and its aircraft have been featured in TV shows including Miami Vice. Its floating planes take off in view of the port and waterfront multi-million-dollar homes.

Founded by Arthur “Pappy” Chalk, the small airline thrived during the prohibition era, taking bootleggers, their customers and Customs agents to Bimini.

Chalk’s was bought by Florida businessman Jim Confalone in mid-July 1999, was rechristened as Chalk’s Ocean Airways and was in the midst of an “extensive refurbishment” of its airline fleet, according to the company’s website.