Boutique airline/charter flight door falls off...

[TheGreenGoblin]

IRONWOOD, MI -- A Wakefield man plans to take his concerns to the Gogebic County Board after he says an emergency exit door on his Boutique Airlines flight ripped off the plane just moments before his flight from Minneapolis to Ironwood was to take off Wednesday. Tom Yon tells KBJR-TV 6 in Duluth he was seated just feet from the door on a Boutique Airlines small, 8-person plane when the door flew off just before take off. Yon described a sound of a loud bang and then the door was gone and his carry-on bag being sucked out of the opening. The Metropolitan Airports Commission confirmed the incident happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday. They say the plane never actually left the ground after the door came off. The plane returned to the gate, and the door was found nearby. Yon says he plans to take his concerns to the Gogebic County Board during a public meeting Monday morning. Boutique Airlines has yet to comment regarding the incident.

(KBJR-TV photo)

boutique.jpg (25.47 KiB) Viewed 180 times

The aircraft involved was a PC-12 and was on the ground, so the bag was not so much "sucked out" as fell out, as the door had clearly not been locked. One wonders if the system allows pressurisation in such a case?!


https://www.boutiqueair.com/

Pilots canned it appears...

Ironwood, MI-- The Gogebic Iron County Airport's only commercial airline, Boutique Airlines, will stop serving their region after an emergency exit door flew off moments before take-off last week.

The incident happened on a flight from Minneapolis to Ironwood, MI Wednesday, May 5.

"We're not trying to hide or deny anything," said Shawn Simpson, CEO of Boutique Airlines during a Gogebic Iron County Airport board meeting Monday.

RELATED: Wakefield man recounts moment door flew off plane during takeoff

Several Boutique Airline representatives listened to the passenger's frightening experiences onboard the aircraft at the meeting.

"It happened so fast, and it was so unusual," said Mike Parra, a Colorado resident who was on board the flight. "We're all looking at each other like did that just really happen."

"I'm sitting there looking at my daughter hanging out this door. Except for the safety strap, she would've been on the floor," said another gentleman at the meeting.

Company representatives responded saying the two pilots on board that flight failed to complete a pre-flight checklist, causing the door to open moments before take-off.

Simpson said both pilots were put on leave until an investigation was complete, and both pilots' employment with the airline was terminated on Sunday.

During the meeting, passengers and county board members expressed frustration over the airlines' lack of immediate response.

"The fact that they can't just call your company or that your company doesn't step up to the line and say this is the right thing to do, we need to take care of these people," said County Board member Brandon Snyder

https://kbjr6.com/2021/05/10/boutique-a ... o-airport/

Another dodgy turbo outfit?

[TheGreenGoblin]

A post on alirliners.net

tys777 wrote:
Two pilots have been fired and Boutique is pulling out of IWD

https://kbjr6.com/2021/05/10/boutique-a ... o-airport/

Yeah, as someone who has countless hours instructing on the PC-12, I don't see how could happen except for extreme neglect on the par

The way the door is designed makes it nearly impossible for it to come open after being locked and it's pretty easy tell if its not locked all the way, which is:

1. Red/Green indication on the outside of the door.
2. Red Warning light and red CAWS message in the cockpit (on the type I flew it was 3 lights total).
3. And if for some reason the indication on the outside was wrong (highly unlikely) and all of the warning lights in the cockpit failed (again, highly unlikely): it is impossible for the door to come open if the handle is flush with the fuselage, aka locked. Which they should have checked.

They also must have been pretty close to rotation speed if the door came off the aircraft as Pilatus says the door is good up to at least 60 knots of wind.

[Boac]

One solution to the need to 'ventilate' the cabin thoroughly.....

[bob2s]

Boac, it was a possibility that the cabin did need ventilating nanoseconds after the door departed

[PHXPhlyer]

"Another dodgy turbo outfit?"

I don't think so.
I have seen/heard them here, DEN, and LAX. Nothing bad stands out.
See their route map on the website.

https://www.boutiqueair.com/

PP