Air wreck in Svolvær recovered on Saturday

PiperPA-28. Photo: Wikipedia.org

The air wreck in Svolvær is likely to be recovered on Saturday

The Civil Aviation Commission estimates that the wreck of the single-engine plane that crashed close to Svolvær airport on Sunday, can be salvaged on Saturday.

 

– If everything goes according to plan, we are aiming to start on Saturday, probably from the morning of, says specialist on air accidents, Tor Nørstegård to NTB.

The wreck is located and is at 60 to 70 meters depth around 200 to 300 meters from land. Due to the depth, ROV’S (mini submarines) operated from the surface will be used instead of divers.

Acceptable weather conditions

Seløy Undervannsservice A/S from Sandnessjøen is engaged by the Civil Aviation Commission to assist in the salvage operation. Nørstegård says that the forecast indicates acceptable weather for the weekend.

He further says that it is too early to say anything about how long the operation will take. The Commission will have inspectors in place during the whole operation.

The wreck will be investigated to see if technical conditions contributed to the accident.

Two died

Leif Jarle Stamnes (79) from Tromsø and Einar Halvorsen (63) from Langhus lost their lives in the crash. The two were found shortly after the accident.

The accident happened on Sunday 11 February at 20.36. Just after departure, when the plane had reached an altitude of about 500 feet, it suddenly lost height and hit the sea with great force not far from the airstrip, the  Civil Aviation Commission writes on its home page.

Talked to witnesses

The  Civil Aviation Commission Wednesday conducted the first round of data collection and interviews with witnesses and other pertinent people at Svolvær.

The plane that crashed is a single-engine Piper PA-28 from Tromsø Flyklubb. There were good weather conditions when the accident occurred.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today