PHOTOS: A newly released report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) highlights the details of why a seaplane in Mutiny Bay crashed on Sept. 4, 2022, and killed 10 people.
The float-equipped de Havilland DHC-3 airplane sank in about 200 feet of water during the crash. However, the plane was in level flight before it climbed slightly and then abruptly pitched down, descending at an estimated rate of more than 9,500 feet per minute until it impacted the water. According to the NTSB, "a single component of a critical flight control caused the unrecoverable, near-vertical descent and subsequent water impact of a passenger plane."
Just days after NTSB investigators began examining the wreckage, they discovered the actuator that controls the pitch of the airplane was disconnected from a control linkage, making it impossible for the pilot to control the airplane's pitch.