Plane crash on Decatur Island kills three

Three men died Wednesday when their chartered West Isle Air plane crashed on Decatur Island shortly after takeoff.

The four-passenger single-engine Cessna 172 crashed at 1:45 p.m. while heading west over a forested hill. It was leaving Decatur Island for Anacortes.

Names of the victims were withheld late Wednesday pending notification of families. Cause of the crash was unknown.

Sheriff Bill Cumming described the victims as male — the pilot, a construction worker and a carpet layer. Cumming said the pilot was from Graham, about 11 miles south of Puyallup. One of the passengers was from Coupeville, the other from Anacortes.

Witnesses said the plane failed to keep its elevation after initially clearing the trees at the north end of the runway. Decatur Island residents Donald and Sharon Hall were working close to the runway when the plane took off.

"It took off, got several hundred yards past the runway and then just went down into the woods," Donald Hall said. "It took them about an hour to find the crash site."

Neighbor Sarah Jones said she was alerted to the plane going down when she heard Sharon Hall scream. Jones then heard the plane crash into the forest.

"It sounded like metal against wood," Jones said.

Sheriff's Deputy Eric Gardiner said an initial air search failed to locate the crash site. Gardiner, who is also an EMT, flew to the site with Paramedic Jim Ricks and EMT Lainie Volk.

"There were some attempts at revival," Volk said of the victims. "Not much could be done, ultimately."

Volk said she and her colleagues arrived on the scene about 20-30 minutes after being paged. The crash site hadn't been found when they arrived on the island, she said. Some residents canvassing the crash area later found the site.

Volk and her colleagues, who had been driven to the crash area by a resident, were nearby when the site was found.

"We were close enough when we heard them yell."

At 4:30 p.m., Gardiner was guarding the site and awaiting sheriff's and coroner's officials.

"There's nothing here that needs to be seen," Gardiner said, asking people to stay away from the site. He referred all questions to Cumming.

Undersheriff Jon Zerby said the bodies would be removed Wednesday evening.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators were expected at the crash site Thursday and will conduct a thorough examination of the plane’s maintenance records, West Isle Air Vice President Dave Ross said.

West Isle has a fleet of 17 planes and flies chartered and scheduled routes throughout the San Juans. It was the company’s first "serious" accident in 17 years of operation, Ross said.

"It hasn’t been a very good day for us," he said.

The pilot was an experienced commercial aviator and company veteran, Ross said. "He was one of our Chieftain pilots and had been with us quite a while. Right now, there’s not a clue as to why the plane went down."

The plane was on its return trip to Anacortes airport following its scheduled 1:35 p.m. takeoff. The pilot was shuttling the two workers, who had flown to the island earlier that day, back to Anacortes.

Journal associate editor Robin Hamilton contributed to this article.

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