A pilot flying in the area of Ketchikan about the same time that a sightseeing plane crashed on July 24 told National Transportation Safety Board accident investigators that he encountered “a wall of weather” that he had to go around. Four tourists and the pilot of the accident aircraft, a float-equipped de Havilland DHC-2 (N995WA), died when the aircraft crashed into a cliff about 40 miles northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska.The NTSB’s preliminary report on the accident involving a Taquan Air Service floatplane shows that three of the de Havilland aircraft took off that day about five minutes apart to conduct a 75-minute air tour flight. The first and third planes returned safely. It was the pilot of the third plane that encountered low clouds, rain and fog that forced him to take an alternate route.