Incidents / Accidents
Antilles Air Boats operated from 1964 to 1981. They flew as many as 40,000 flights and 277,000 passengers per year. That was the reason it was called the "World's Largest Seaplane Airline". Unfortunately there were incidents and accidents during those years that resulted in injuries and, in some circumstances, deaths.
It is not as easy to tell the stories about the accidents. Those days were difficult for the families involved and certainly to much lesser degree the staff of AAB.
1978 was catastrophic for AAB. Foremost the loss of lives, both passengers as well as pilots
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Each incident was different.
Each incident could have been avoided.
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They were accidents.
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The Gooses also lost their credibility with the flying public. No doubt four accidents in one year was more than anyone wanted to think about as they traveled between the islands.
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That was unfortunate because the Goose was a tough work horse of an aircraft and was not the root cause of any of the accidents.
None the less, the Gooses were being replaced with its larger sister... the Grumman Mallard G-73. (which some were all ready in service)