Alaska Crashes Should Serve To Remind All Pilots That Mother Nature Is Always In Char

"William Angelley" wrote

The third crash happened the next day near Dillingham, Alaska and
involved a DeHavilland DHC-3T Otter aircraft. This crash has received a
great deal of press coverage because it killed five people, including
former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, and critically injured four others,
including former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe.

The cause of this crash is currently being investigated by the NTSB and
there is currently not much information available, so no one can say for
certain at this point why the plane went down. There are, however, a
couple of possibilities, which, even if are ultimately determined to be
unrelated to the crash, are worth a few minutes of every pilots'
thoughts.

In this crash I wonder if there was any avionics on board that displays
terrain warnings, even a handhelt PDA type that causes terrain in conflict
to show up red on the display. I would think there would be a strong desire
for Alaska pilots to have a handheld terrain warning or better, because of
the frequency of mountaintops getting obscured with fog, and the general
ruggedness of the terrain they have to deal with on a day by day basis.

How about everyone on the group? Would you insist on terrain warning if you
flew in Alaska?

My heartfelt condolences to the familys of everyone that died in the crash.
--
Jim in NC