Safety

US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials have found a fatigue crack in the right wing spar of the Chalks Ocean Airways Grumman Mallard that crashed into the sea near Miami Beach December 19.

The right wing separated from the Mallard just after takeoff from Chalks’ Port of Miami base. All 18 passengers and two crew onboard died in the accident.

NTSB acting chairman Mark Rosenker in a press briefing this morning said the cracks were discovered last night in photographs of the wing sent to the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC. Today, portions of that wing will also be sent to the safety board’s laboratories for further examination.

Few other details are currently being confirmed, although Rosenker notes that initial findings indicate that the crack extends through the majority of the wing spar.

He also says the age of the aircraft, which was built in 1947, could be a factor.

“Inspections maybe would have found [the crack],” Rosenker told reporters. “But they would have to have been a very serious type of inspection so that you would have understood it and found it in a timely manner.”

Chalks and the US FAA have been informed of the NTSB’s findings. Neither were available for comment.

A NTSB spokesman also tells ATI that the fuselage, which is still underwater, should be recovered today.

DARREN SHANON / WASHINGTON DC