National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Cessna Aircraft investigators are probing the October 7 crash of a Cessna Caravan 208 that killed 10 people returning from a skydiving event. The single-pilot aircraft ferrying nine skydivers from Star, Idaho, to Shelton, Washington, located south of Seattle, went down in a steep nosedive into the rugged Cascade Mountains, said the local sheriff and FAA officials.
The crash follows warnings issued by the FAA in recent years regarding the Caravan’s susceptibility to icing. It is reported that a cold front had swept through the area where the aircraft went down, but officials won’t know for some time if weather conditions might have contributed to the fatal accident.
Last year, the FAA ordered Caravan operators to post placards warning that continued flight after encountering moderate or greater icing conditions is prohibited. Cessna issued an icing equipment supplement to the aircraft’s flight manual this past June and developed a low airspeed awareness system for flying into icy conditions.