I'm not sure yet if I know (knew) anyone on board, but we just lost a plane off the end of the runway at the Kodiak airport this afternoon. 10 POB, 5 fatal and five rescued in various states.
Winter travel and recreation can be more dangerous, so let this serve as a reminder to all of us.
Taken by a friend on a pocket camera and cropped.
Posted by Ed Cordes on January 6, 2008 at 12:36 AM
OMG! This is Terrible news! I feel so sorry for those families of the deceased and those who survived. It serves as a reminder for all of us that life is precious and short. So we should not only be careful, but be thankful for what we have in our lives. We just never know what may happen.
Posted by Jim DeWitt on January 6, 2008 at 1:27 AM
Mechanical problems, Hank? Are they saying yet? Conditions look very good for Kodiak... My sympathies to the families...
I've got secondhand accounts. By those, the pilot had just lifted off and was climbing out when the cargo door popped open. He turned back and was on final for an emergency landing. Hit the water about 100 yards from the end of the runway. I have more details, but don't want to get ahead of NOK notices. Updated to 6 DOA, 5 survivors in critical condition. A float plane evidently saw it happen, landed and was able to pull the five from the plane before it sank. It's seen in the photo partially exposed by the falling tide.
Looks as though the passengers were "old believer" Russians who fish around Kodiak, headed to Homer to be with their families for Russian Christmas. Really, really sad. One of the survivors didn't make it through the night, and the rest are really hurt. Theirs is a small, close-knit community so the impact is huge. I'm sure they'll appreciate your good wishes and condolences. I'm shooting this for the AP, so it's going to be a tough day, I think.
Hank, a sad story. I lost a few people I knew in Alaska when I was up there to flying accidents too. I spent two years flying in Alaska mainly out of Elmendorf. I flew at least twice a month during the two years and had MANY close calls. Even when I was on the ground I was not safe, I was knocked down by an explosion wake from a cargo 707 that crashed at the end of our runway into a building where I had a generator for backup to the TACAN service. The cause was ice fog and not deploying flaps on take off. Weather is brutal up there to flying, although it is the only way to get around. I flew in everything from 727's down to Cherokee 6's back then working the DEW lines from Shimiya to Point Barrow. Don't miss the flying at all.
Posted by beth summer on January 6, 2008 at 7:38 PM
How awful...I can't begin to imagine the heartache these families will go through. My thoughts are with them. Yes...life is precious. Be careful out there....
I shot the recovery of the wreckage for the AP today. In contrast to Kent's Doe a Deer experience, everything went just right for me.
On a whim I had thrown in my long lenses, and sure enough the best shooting location relative to the action required a 500 f/4 with a 1.4 telextender on a tripod. Even so it was brightly backlit by the midday sun, and exposing for the action was going to completely blow the background. I stood in snow and waited in 20 knots winds and temps in the teens, while the wreckage was slowly hoisted out of the water. At exactly the right moment the background lighting dropped three stops when clouds passed in front of the sun, matching it nicely with the shadowed action. Good shots and a happy editor at the other end of the wire. I'll wait a day or so for the AP to get some usage, then post an outtake or two. Nice to find a "bright spot" on a glum shoot!
Posted by Steve Foss on January 7, 2008 at 1:47 AM
Patience, a steady hand and the ability to shoot with blue fingers. Good work, Mr. Pennington. Hank, after several years of covering the cops, courts and crime beats at two daily papers (we called it the murder and mayhem beat), I can only say I'm glad it was you and not me. Good news for the AP that they called you.
In the old days, I'd have been the reporter alongside you asking stupid questions like "How does it feel to have your best friend die in front of your eyes?" It would have been the last question any compassionate and observant journalist needed to ask, but if I didn't have an answer to it in the news story, I'd have had an editor down my throat.
Reporters and editors. Christ!
I have no doubt you did great work with a light touch, Hank.
The Anchorage Daily News has the full story here. There's a horizontal photo posted, but if you click on it, there's a link to a vertical with a little closer view.
Shooting was done with a Nikon D2X @ 400 ISO, Nikkor 500 f/4 and 1.4x extender on a tripod. Basically it was my wildlife rig, in contrast to what I normally use for PJ. You never quite know when and how you'll use your outdoor photography skills.
As a technical side note, I normally shoot without any in-camera sharpening, but from the looks of this it appears that neither the ADN nor the AP did any sharpening after the fact. I'm going to double check with AP, but it may be a good idea to add a bit of in-camera sharpening as a matter of course for PJ.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on January 7, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Good work, Hank. I don't envy you having to shoot this sad assignment.
Discussion
12 repliesWinter travel and recreation can be more dangerous, so let this serve as a reminder to all of us.
Taken by a friend on a pocket camera and cropped.
On a whim I had thrown in my long lenses, and sure enough the best shooting location relative to the action required a 500 f/4 with a 1.4 telextender on a tripod. Even so it was brightly backlit by the midday sun, and exposing for the action was going to completely blow the background. I stood in snow and waited in 20 knots winds and temps in the teens, while the wreckage was slowly hoisted out of the water. At exactly the right moment the background lighting dropped three stops when clouds passed in front of the sun, matching it nicely with the shadowed action. Good shots and a happy editor at the other end of the wire. I'll wait a day or so for the AP to get some usage, then post an outtake or two. Nice to find a "bright spot" on a glum shoot!
In the old days, I'd have been the reporter alongside you asking stupid questions like "How does it feel to have your best friend die in front of your eyes?" It would have been the last question any compassionate and observant journalist needed to ask, but if I didn't have an answer to it in the news story, I'd have had an editor down my throat.
Reporters and editors. Christ!
I have no doubt you did great work with a light touch, Hank.
Shooting was done with a Nikon D2X @ 400 ISO, Nikkor 500 f/4 and 1.4x extender on a tripod. Basically it was my wildlife rig, in contrast to what I normally use for PJ. You never quite know when and how you'll use your outdoor photography skills.
As a technical side note, I normally shoot without any in-camera sharpening, but from the looks of this it appears that neither the ADN nor the AP did any sharpening after the fact. I'm going to double check with AP, but it may be a good idea to add a bit of in-camera sharpening as a matter of course for PJ.