Investigation Blames Alaska Plane Crash on Missing Nut

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation says the crash of a small plane just off the Kodiak State Airport runway, in Alaska, was due to a missing nut.

The Island Air plane went down in August in shallow water and both the pilot and the plane’s mechanic were able to wade to shore.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror says the accident occurred during a flight to check maintenance performed on the Piper Saratoga. The pilot said that during the flight the throttle control stopped working just as he was making his approach to land.

An examination found that the throttle cable had become disconnected from the throttle linkage arm due to a missing self-locking nut. The mechanic said he should have checked the security of the self-locking nut, but didn’t.