Qualla: 2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash

2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash: Introduction

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A missing lock ring. That was the finding. On September 4, 2022, a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Turbine Otter floatplane carrying nine passengers and one pilot departed Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, bound for Renton Municipal Airport on the southern edge of Seattle. Twenty-one minutes later, the aircraft nosedived into Mutiny Bay off the southwest shore of Whidbey Island at high speed. Everyone on board died. The cause, investigators would eventually determine, was a small metal ring that was not where it was supposed to be.

2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash: Twenty-One Minutes

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The flight departed at 2:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time, a routine hop through the island-studded waters of Puget Sound. The DHC-3 Otter is a workhorse of Pacific Northwest float flying, a single-engine turboprop designed to haul passengers and cargo in and out of places that lack c...

2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash: The Search Below

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mutiny Bay, despite its name, is typically placid, a shallow indentation on Whidbey Island's southwestern coast where the water deepens quickly offshore. The wreckage sank to 190 feet. The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation and enlisted NOAA vessels, the...

2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash: The Lock Ring

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On October 24, 2022, the NTSB released a critical update. The horizontal stabilizer actuator, the mechanism that controls the aircraft's pitch trim, had separated into two pieces at a threaded assembly fitting. The actuator's lock ring, a small but essential component that preven...

2022 Mutiny Bay DHC-3 Crash: An Uncontrollable Pitch

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The NTSB's final report, released September 29, 2023, confirmed the probable cause. The clamp nut had unthreaded from the horizontal stabilizer trim actuator barrel because the lock ring was missing. As the nut worked loose, the horizontal stabilizer shifted to an extreme trailin...