The pilot of Grumman Goose and the airline that owned it are suing each other over the 2023 crash of the amphib on the British Columbia coast. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board says water in the fuel brought down the vintage flying boat operated by Wilderness Seaplanes and flown by Donald Fossum, who are now pointing fingers at each other over who was to blame. According to the Victoria Times Colonist, the TSB found water in the tanks. Both engines quit on the Goose shortly after it was refueled from a barrel at a seaplane base in Bella Bella on B.C.’s central coast. The regular fuel system was out of service and the barrel and portable pump were being used in its place. The TSB said rainwater likely got into the barrel because it was being stored upright instead of on its side.
The airline contends that Fossum was flying the airplane with a known defect in the landing gear that should have grounded it. It argues that if Fossum had reported the gear problem as he should have, the airline would have grounded the Goose and the accident never would have happened. It also says he should have tested the fuel for water. The pilot of Beaver ahead of Fossum in the fuel line did check the fuel and didn’t find any water, but the pump intake may not have been all the way to the bottom of the barrel. The airline wants damages for uninsured losses on the airplane and lost revenue.
Fossum claims the airline should have equipped the fuel company, which it owns, with a filter to separate water from the fuel. Although he and four passengers walked away from the crash, injuries became apparent later and Fossum suffered a stroke eight weeks later that ended his flying career. He wants damages for pain and suffering and lost income. Neither side has responded to the other’s claims.
The proverbial “chain of events” and “swiss cheese” monster strikes again.
So the US is not the only “litigious society” out there then?
Not sure how your question relates to my inference about how the accident happened, but of course the answer is no, all 1st world societies are sue happy.
Pilot is at fault for not checking for water in the fuel, especially after taking gas from a barrel that is sitting out in the rain!
I once had a water-related engine failure in a Cessna 150. I tested the fuel before takeoff, and it had the red color of 80 octane.
However, there were a bunch of tiny bubbles in the fuel; not rising, not falling. I showed the sample to my CFI, and to others in the line shack that day. None could tell me what it was. One man even said it *couldn’t* be water, since the pump’s filtration system would keep it from being pumped.
But…it was water. It separated after the engine was started. When the engine started running rough, I jammed the throttle forward and started climbing, and heading toward the closest airport. It finally quit on high-final, and I deadsticked to a safe landing.
After I landed, I tested the fuel again. The bubbles were gone…and so was the red color of 80 octane. Just scummy swamp water. I took sample after sample out, finally getting a large mason jar and just draining and draining. I probably had about four gallons of water in the 13-gallon fuel tanks.
NONE of this obvious during the pre-flight check…except for a bunch of innocuous tiny bubbles….
Best guess I had is that the fuel-station pump mixed the water in with the gas as it was pumping the fuel from the tank. Bet that’s what happened here.
Your experience sounds familiar. I drain each wing tank three more times into a mason jar after any sample shows any trace of water. For all you high wing fliers out there check that water isn’t leaking past the fuel sender covers!
This one reads like there is enough liability to go around both parties.
Did live and work out of Bella Bella in my misspent youth… The only fuel facility was in Bella Bella on the B.C. Packers side (not a football club) across from Bella Bella (on the other side of Lama Pass). fuel was brought over to Bella Bella from Bella Bella via seine boat or gillnetter and then rolled uphill in 45 gallon drums (Imperial measure) before pumped into furnace tanks or for avgas in three flavours. No credit cards back then. No cellphones either. Only telephone was a radiophone which was replaced at the dockhead every monday due to overuse by the fishing fleet. Draining water from fuel was second nature and some habits are hard to break. Grumman Goose was “Executive Transport” back then and the local bus was DHC2 Beaver or Cessna 180. A trip to Vancouver “The Big Smoke” took 2 or 3 days if the weather was good, otherwise maybe a week with the S.E Stormforce winds. B.C. Ferries stops here most days today on it’s daylong run to Prince Rupert from Port Hardy (northern tip of Vancouver island). A real nice Inside passage cruise. If you sail in August you will be pleasantly surprised by heavy fog all the way. Always drain your tanks for water…