Duck Boat Sinking

[BajaMike]

More loss of life due to those “Duck Boats”. Why don’t they ban those 70 year old landing crafts from doing commercial passenger trips. They are heavy, steel, underpowered and “not really a good boat and not a good truck”. It seems people die on these every year or two.....get rid of them.

 

[brgrcru]

looks like a school bus that floats. wtf.
rip to those people. what a disaster.

 

[FreeBird236]

Don't want to jump the gun on placing blame, but one survivor is stating the captain said don't put on life jackets, it's not necessary. My family and I would have had those things on at the first signs of trouble.

 

[aka619er]

Don't want to jump the gun on placing blame, but one survivor is stating the captain said don't put on life jackets, it's not necessary. My family and I would have had those things on at the first signs of trouble.

I heard the same. I also read some of the deceased where children. Who the hell says kids dont need that added protection on the water?

 

[stephenkatsea]

I watched her. She was very well spoken. I didn't hear her say prior to departure "The Capt said don't put on the life jackets." I heard her say the Capt said the life jackets are stored above your heads. He also said there are 3 sizes. He then said something like don't worry, you won't need them. This was all during the pre departure safety instructions. Very tragic. Should they have ever left the dock? Reportedly, no instructions to don life jackets was given when they began taking on serious water.

 

[BajaMike]

They have them in Austin, and when i used to live there they would come by on Lady Bird Lake/Town Lake and at the deepest its maybe 8 feet deep in that lake. When I had my lake front apartment, we had typical summer storms, a few times the boats disappeared right in front of me in rain/wind, but the captain just has to run 100 yards to ground the duck or drive out of the lake. Doing those tours on big rough lakes like Havasu would be crazy.

 

[BajaMike]

 

[stephenkatsea]

Rode once in NYC in good weather. Really enjoyed it. Good way to see the city and the water front.

 

[Old Texan]

Complete negligence in my opinion to not have personnel capable of understanding the craft and the weather forecasts. Today's weather information is readily available and predictable. That boat should have never left the dock with an approaching weather system......Lives should have not been placed in jeopardy by incompetence.

 

[BajaMike]

Complete negligence in my opinion to not have personnel capable of understanding the craft and the weather forecasts. Today's weather information is readily available and predictable. That boat should have never left the dock with an approaching weather system......Lives should have not been placed in jeopardy by incompetence.

I agree, but those “Duck” boats are barely watercraft, and should junked. And the weather in the South is crazy, everyday they have “scattered thunderstorms”, and then every few days when you get wind and 2 inches of rain and then an hour later its clear and sunny.

 

[shueman]

Rode one years ago out of New Orleans ... never again !

I can only imagine the lawsuits that come from this

 

[RitcheyRch]

We rode one in Seattle and really enjoyed it.

Rode once in NYC in good weather. Really enjoyed it. Good way to see the city and the water front.

 

[Taboma]

Considering the storm conditions, I find it amazing the Capt didn't request that everybody don life jackets located directly above their heads. I find it equally amazing that under those conditions the passengers weren't already wearing them without having to be told.
Perhaps peer pressure, they didn't want to be the first to chicken out ? Or act afraid ?
Perhaps a false sense of security, after all, isn't the Capt supposed to keep them safe ?

What a horrible tragedy, yet one simple act could have saved so many.

I know I've told myself a few times as a paying passenger in one venue or another --- no worries, they're professionals, then why are the hairs on my neck still standing straight up ?

I recall those same hairs standing and my inner voice screaming at me in the pre-dawn hours while riding in a tour bus. We had disembarked a cruise ship and being bused to Anchorage AK for the flight out. From my seat perspective and based on the reflection in the mirror, it appeared the female bus driver was nodding off I kept trying to convince myself, relax, no worries, but I wasn't believing it. But, peer pressure not wanting to be "That Guy" and not wanting to worry my wife, I kept my mouth shut --- but for the next two hours I watched her head movements in the mirror, her driving behavior and barely blinked, while everybody else relaxed and took a nap. Finally the sun was up and she was providing dialog on the various sites and scenes, finally I relaxed.

I think I have trust issues

 

[Paul65k]

I talked to a friend that actually lives on Table Rock Lake and who just made it back to the dock with his 26' Cobalt that very day and he was of the opinion that they added the had windows to the sides that day (normally open) to protect the passengers from the weather and once it went over it was a tomb with no way for the passengers to get out. Says that there are something like 25-30 of those Duck Boats running around Branson and they only do a short trip into the water around a little island for sightseeing.

He told me that he saw that boat and one other on the water when the cell blew in and the other captain was able to get the bow into the storm and they made it back.....this boat was unable to get turned and was struck broadside by a wave and went right over and then they had no way to get out....very sad.

 

[WhatExit?]

Inspector warned Missouri duck boat company of design flaws last year
ABC's Emily Rau reports on the deadly boat accident in Missouri.

BRANSON, Missouri (WABC) --
A private inspector said Saturday that he warned the company operating duck boats on a Missouri lake about design flaws putting the watercraft at greater risk of sinking, less than a year before the accident that killed 17 people during a sudden storm.

Steve Paul, owner of the Test Drive Technologies inspection service in the St. Louis area, said he issued a written report for the company in August 2017. It explained why the boats' engines - and pumps that remove water from their hulls - might fail in inclement weather.

He also told The Associated Press that the tourist boats' canopies make them hard to escape when they sink - a concern raised by regulators after a similar sinking in Arkansas killed 13 people in 1999.

The accident Thursday evening on Table Rock Lake outside the tourist town of Branson also is raising questions about whether storm warnings in the area went unheeded and whether any agency can keep boaters off the water when inclement weather approaches.

"If you have the information that you could have rough waters or a storm coming, why ever put a boat on that water?" Paul said.

A witness' video of the duck boat just before it capsized suggests that its flexible plastic windows might have been closed and could have trapped passengers as the hybrid boat-truck went down. It does not show passengers jumping clear.

"The biggest problem with a duck when it sinks is that canopy," Paul said. "That canopy becomes what I'll call a people catcher, and people can't get out from under that canopy."

A spokeswoman for Ripley Entertainment, the company operating the duck boats in Branson, did not respond Saturday to telephone and email messages seeking comment. Spokeswoman Suzanne Smagala has noted that Thursday's accident was the only one in more than 40 years of operation.

An archived version of Ripley's website said it operates 20 duck boats in Branson and described them as "built from the ground up under United States Coast Guard (USCG) supervision with the latest in marine safety."

In central Wisconsin, Original Wisconsin Ducks in the Dells has no plans to change how it operates after 73 years of safe rides, general manager Dan Gavinski said. But his company operates World War II-vintage boats, not the modified modern version.

Since 1999, duck boats have been linked to the deaths of more than 40 people, with a troubled safety record on the road and water alike. Their height can obscure cars, pedestrians or bicycles from a driver's view, and maintenance problems can be severe.

Paul said he won't know until the boat that sank is recovered from the lake whether it's one of the two dozen he inspected for Ripley Entertainment in August 2017.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the boat that sank was built in 1944 and had passed an inspection in February, The Kansas City Star reported . But Paul said the boat would have been heavily modified to make it longer so that only part of it dates to World War II. He said it would still have the design flaw he identified in his report.

He declined to share a copy of his report with The Associated Press but said he said he is willing to make it available to authorities.

"I'm sure eventually it will be subpoenaed," he said.

Paul said the duck boats he inspected - which the company had just purchased or repaired - vented exhaust from the motor out front and below the water line. He said in rough conditions, water could get into the exhaust system, and then into the motor, cutting it off. With the motor off, he said, its pump for removing water from the hull would not operate.

"If you watch that video, that water is definitely being slammed up into that exhaust without a doubt," Paul said.

After the deadly sinking in Arkansas in 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended doing away with the canopies and adding more floatation capacity so duck boats could remain upright and keep floating even if they took on water.

The industry took little heed, said Robert Mongeluzzi, a Philadelphia attorney who has represented victims of duck boat crashes. The canopies can protect customers from rain or sun, he noted, and closed windows allow companies to heat the cabins, extending operating hours.

The NTSB called the industry's response to the recommendations disappointing, saying companies cited the cost of engineering and installing additional flotation capacity as prohibitive.

"The duck boat is notoriously unstable and unsuited for what they were attempting to do with it," said Daniel Rose, an attorney whose New York-based law firm has represented victims in several accidents. "It tries to be a boat and a car and does neither, really, except under ideal circumstances."

State officials said the Coast Guard regulates such craft; its officials did not immediately respond to requests for more information. Spokesmen said the Department of Transportation doesn't regulate duck boats because they're amphibious, and the Department of Public Safety doesn't in this case because it's a commercial vessel, as opposed to a recreational one.

It's also not clear that any agency had the authority to keep boats off the lake. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built it in the late 1950s, but its officials said they don't have such authority.

Witnesses have said the weather appeared calm before a storm suddenly whipped up strong waves and spray.

But nearly eight hours earlier, the National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the western and central Missouri counties.

A severe thunderstorm warning that went out at 6:32 p.m. specifically mentioned Table Rock Lake. The first emergency calls over the accident occurred just after 7 p.m.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa of KOLR-TV in Springfield said in a phone interview Saturday that her station was forecasting the threat of severe weather all morning.

"This storm didn't come out of nowhere," she said. "That is what pains me. I feel like we did everything, at least we tried to do everything, by the book as meteorologists and we still had this horrible tragedy on our hands."

 

[Just Ducky]

They had an incident years ago on a river where they lost power and the current pushed them into a barge.The current rolled them under the barge and many people died.Those things are too slow to drive out of harms way and not very stable in the first place.They should be banned from that kind of tour use.

 

[stephenkatsea]

Viewing of an app such as My Radar would give you a view of cells in the area, their intensity and the direction they are moving. But, not if a cell makes up suddenly right on top of you. That is rare.

 

[WhatExit?]

I said it before and I'll say it again...when people want to cruise a lake they should take a BOAT cruise.

Those "DUCK boats" are dangerous on and off the road/water

 

[Mandelon]

We have them here in San Diego, they look like deathtraps!

Ducks:

 

[infield]

The Missouri State Highway Patrol report stated it was a "1944 GMC amphibious vehicle" That doesn't sound like a modern reproduction to me.