20 killed in plane crash in US
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-20 16:04

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 saw the aircraft take off like it does every other time. 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.

Coast Guard Capt. James Maes said the main part of the fuselage was submerged in about 35 feet of water that is subject to strong tidal currents because of the narrow ship channel. Divers continued to search after dark for the final victim.

Ship traffic in and out of the port will be suspended indefinitely, Maes added, including three large cruise ships that had been scheduled to depart Monday afternoon.

Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the initial investigation will focus on locating the plane's cockpit voice recorder and examining aircraft records. He said much of the wreckage, including the fuselage, would likely be raised Tuesday.

Rescuers search the crash site after a seaplane crashed and sank off Miami Beach into the city's main shipping channel, December 19, 2005.[Reuters]

The skies were cloudy, but there was no rain or lightning at the time of the crash.

Garred Gadaon, 34, said his sister-in-law and her 13-year-old daughter were on the plane.

"We had a tragic death today with many of our family members and our friends. It doesn't seem real. Chalk's has always been a safe plane for us," he said while standing outside the Miami Beach Police Department.

Bahamas Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchombe, who is also a member of parliament for Bimini, said on local television that 11 people aboard the plane were from Bimini, about 50 miles east of Miami.

Bahamian Prime Minister Perry G. Christie said the country's consul general in Miami had already met some family members at the scene of the accident.

"The nation wishes to express its deepest condolences to the people of Bimini on their apparent loss," Christie said in a statement.

Coast Guardsmen and emergency workers wearing protective suits hauled bodies up from rescue boats, rushing to find victims before darkness fell. Law enforcement speedboats, divers and helicopters took part in the search and were joined by others in private boats, on personal watercraft and on surfboards.

The aircraft that went down was built in 1947 and is registered to Seaplane Adventures LLC in Greenwich, Conn., according to FAA records.

The plane had a relatively clean safety record with few major problems, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

In September 2002, the plane skidded on a runway in Fort Lauderdale after its landing gear failed at touchdown.

In February 1984, the elevator trim tab, which controls pitch, failed and caused the steering column to shake. In April of that year, the landing gear failed to retract, and investigators found the nose gear assembly was overstressed.

No passengers or crew were injured in those incidents, according to the records.

Chalk's Ocean Airways flies between Miami and the Bahamas, using planes that take off and land on the water. Chalk's aircraft have been featured in TV shows such as "Miami Vice." Its seaplanes take off in view of the port and the multimillion-dollar homes that dot islands in the bay.

Founded by Arthur "Pappy" Chalk in 1919, the airline thrived during Prohibition, taking bootleggers, their customers and customs agents to Bimini. According to the airline, its most famous regular passenger was Ernest Hemingway, who flew to Bimini to go big-game fishing.

One of its planes was hijacked to Cuba in 1974 and the company has since had a policy of not carrying enough fuel to get to Havana.

Two years later, the airline was sold to Resorts International, which owned properties on Paradise Island. Donald Trump bought it in 1988 and sold it a few months later to Merv Griffin.

The owner as of 1995 was Seth Atwood of United Capital Corporation of Illinois/Atwood Enterprises. Chalk's was bought by Florida businessman Jim Confalone in 1999 and renamed Chalk's Ocean Airways.

According to its Web site, the carrier flies 17-passenger Turbine Mallards, which can operate from land or water.

Chalk's was in the midst of an "extensive refurbishment" of its airline fleet, according to the company's web site.

The company's Grumman G-73 aircraft — like the one that crashed — had engines converted from older piston-driven models to turboprops, as well as upgrades in avionics and improvements to the plane's interior, the company said.

Chalk's general manager Roger Nair said Monday's crash was the airline's first accident with a passenger fatality. The National Transportation Safety Board database indicates no fatal accidents involving passengers for Chalk's since 1982, when the database began.

Chalk's only crash involving fatalities happened in 1994, when two pilots died in a crash of their seaplane near Key West.