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Nome plane crash sparks a heated debate
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Image from FAA Capstone
On February 19, a Piper PA-31-350 operated by Frontier Flying Service was circling Nome, waiting for a break in the weather. The twin turbo-prop was carrying the pilot and 5 passengers when it slammed into the side of Newton Peak, just outside of Nome.
In a miraculous turn, everyone survived and were rescued.
The Anchorage Daily News wrote a follow up article on the survivors. Their on line story allows comments and the comment stream there has turned heated, and a bit ugly.
There is a debate amongst folks about the use of turbo-props instead of jets and how well each of them fare in icing conditions. There is also quite a few mentions of the FAA's Capstone program, a voluntary safety initiative that equips aircraft with a GPS integrated visual system that outlines terrain and other flying traffic.
The initial trials of the Capstone program in Southwest Alaska were deemed a success and a prototype for implementation of the system around the country.
The technology isn't cheap, and there are still a lot of "seat of the pants" pilots who begrudge such technology, but the bottom line is that if it saves lives, it's a good thing.
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