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NTSB is not investigating Yute Commuter Service plane that landed on lake near Pilot Station

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A Yute Commuter Service (YCS) plane landed on a frozen lake near Pilot Station last week. The National Transportation Safety Board said that it is not opening a formal investigation into the incident.

NTSB Alaska Chief Clint Johnson said that the safety board generally does not open investigations unless the airplane is damaged or if there are injuries to passengers. This incident had neither.

“So at this point, right now, we are closing our file on this one,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that the pilot landed on the lake as a precautionary measure due to a partial loss of power in the engine. He said that his team would follow up with YCS about that.

“To see what the cause or what the suspected cause was of the partial power loss. But like I said before, at this point right now we are not going to be conducting a formal investigation. It'll just be a follow up,” Johnson said.

YCS Director of Operations Terry Cratty said that the airline is still investigating what caused the engine to partially lose power. However, he said that a few days after the plane landed on the lake, a pilot was able to retrieve the plane and fly it back to Bethel without incident.

Greg Kim was a news reporter for KYUK from 2019-2022.
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