ETHAN ALLEN Capsize NTSB summary is out

[John E Hardiman]

NTSB summary

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2006/MAR0603.htm

[mmd]

Thanks for posting the link, John. Interesting reading.

[Don Olney]

July 26, 2006

Testing May Have Prevented Lake George Boat Accident
By AL BAKER and MATTHEW L. WALD
The New York Times

The deaths of 20 elderly tourists who drowned in Lake George last year when their tour boat capsized might have been prevented if state regulators or the boat’s operator had assessed its stability after a wooden canopy was added in 1989, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.

The 38-foot boat, the Ethan Allen, had been authorized to carry 48 passengers and two crew members when it capsized on Oct. 2 with 48 people aboard, the board said. But with its modifications, the Ethan Allen should not have been carrying more than 14 passengers, the safety board said at a meeting in Washington as it approved the final report on the accident, among the worst in New York State history.

The official findings drew on earlier official reports on how the boat was loaded that day. They seemed to corroborate much of the thinking on why the boat overturned, plunging 47 passengers and the captain, Richard Paris, then 74, into the chilly waters of the lake, which is about 60 miles north of Albany.

Though safety board investigators believed that the Ethan Allen was given a stability test four decades ago, when it was first put into service, its stability was not assessed when it was delivered to Lake George in 1979 because the state did not require it, officials said.

In 1989, a new wooden canopy with plexiglass windows replaced a canvas canopy over a metal frame and raised the boat’s center of gravity, officials said. To safely compensate for the higher center of gravity, the total weight on the boat should have been reduced, they said.

Under its original name, the Double Dolphin, the boat was permitted by the Coast Guard to carry 48 passengers and two crew members when it was put into service in 1966, according to information gathered by the safety board.

Although the Ethan Allen had operated for years on the lake by its owner, Shoreline Cruise Inc., without a problem, the safety board found two safety issues related to its age. One was the relatively relaxed safety standards of the 1960’s; another was that the boat was licensed assuming an average passenger weight of 140 pounds, a figure that is now obsolete.

Not only has the average American grown heavier in the last 40 years, but also, on the day of the accident, all the passengers were adults who weighed an average of 178 pounds, the board found.

The Ethan Allen flipped over when waves generated by one or more vessels on the lake rolled into its starboard side, the board said.

At the time, the passengers, mostly from Michigan and Ohio, were leaning to the port, or left, side to see the mansions on the shoreline, about 100 feet away

[RichKrough]

The complete NTSB's hearing on the Ethan Allen was broadcast on a local news station(9) yesterday. Besides the summary above. It was found that the Ethan Allen's orginal stabilty tests were performed without a canopy and thus got it's 48 passenger rating. What is interesting is that the Ethan Allen left the manufacturers yard with a steel and canvas canopy according to testimony given. The Ethan Allen would have been rated for only 11 passengers if stabilty tests had been performed with the canopy in place.
The steel and canvas canopy was replaced a few years ago by a wood canopy by Scarano Boat works in Albany NY. No stabilty test was performed nor was it required by law. If it had been tested it would have been rated for 14 passengers.The wood canopy being lighter actually improved stabilty.
The N.A who owns Scarano Boat works is the same N.A. who was hired by NTSB and NYS investigators to perform the stability test on the Ethan Allen after she was raised. they had to abandon the test before completion as the Ethan Allen became unstable sooner than expected.
One expert testified the Ethan Allen was overloaded by 6000 lbs

[ssor]

I can't imagine any 38 foot boat that wouldn't be overloaded with 48 people on board. Well maybe a world war 2 Higgins boat.

[rbgarr]

http://www.painetworks.com/photos/ib/ib1610.JPG

Judging from the picture above, the fact that the passengers were seated on benches ABOVE the level of the sheer creates an initial stability problem that is only exacerbated by a(ny) canopy.
(But I don't know anything about the weights, centers, underwater profile, etc. You know, all that other important stuff that is part of the calculations :o)

[Ian McColgin]

For a not unusually configured displacement powerboat hull, even 48 200# people will only bring her down 4" or so. Easy to design.

[rbgarr]

I'm guessing that the hull (only) for the EA was a 'production' fg model of some kind and not custom designed or built for its eventual use.:confused:

[RichKrough]

I'm guessing that the hull (only) for the EA was a 'production' fg model of some kind and not custom designed or built for its eventual use.:confused:

IIRC, One of the investigators testified that the Ethan Allen was built as one of several boats for a company that conducted sightseeing excursions around the New London CT. submarine base. He said the hull wasn't designed by an NA for it's specific use. It was persumably a production hull.

[RonW]

So the canopy should have reduced passengers from 48 to 11..
on the steel version and 14 on wood..
It doesn't take a lot to make a boat top heavy and ill balanced, does it.

[Bruce Hooke]

As I understand it, the canopy is only part of the equation. Another part is the increase in the weight of the average American since the boat was built...

[RichKrough]

As I understand it, the canopy is only part of the equation. Another part is the increase in the weight of the average American since the boat was built...

Hopefully the NTSB will release the hearing transcript. I could not descern from listening to the testimony if the 14 passenger rating they (ntsb) concluded was based on 140 lbs per passenger or the 178 lbs they said was the average weight of the passengers on board. I expected to hear something said about the height of the deck above the waterline, but I didn't hear it mentioned.
The investigator testifying said they retested the Ethan Allen based on thier stabilty calculations and it passed with 14 passengers

[Cec]

48 people times 140 pounds equals 6720 pounds
48 people times 178 pounds equals 8544 pounds.

14 people times 178 pounds equals 2492 pounds

???

That's a lot of difference in the assumed allowable 14 people.

[RonW]

I don't buy the increase in weight of the average american krapt.

I have the plans for the pennant by william atkin, a passenger carrying vessel and it was drawn in 1949 and he figured as stated 175 lbs. per person. Read down in the article and you will see 20 persons at 3,500 lbs.....Again my plans are dated Nov.1949.....
http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/Utilities/Pennant.html

[George Roberts]

The 140 pounds has nothing to do with the average weight of a person.

It is simply a number that appears in the formula used to compute the number of people allowed on the boat.

[Cec]

In looking at the picture, and counting what I consider a comfortable seating arrangement, I come up with about 25 to 30 maximum just for that. It would appear top heavy (reread the word appear) and if everyone were on one side of the craft I could see where the right conditions could swamp it.

In truth, even a perfectly balanced craft will swamp under the right conditions. It ran that way for years before the accident.

[RichKrough]

For those still interested in the Ethan Allen incident here is a story from a couple of weeks back that provides some additional details.

From The Albany Times-Union:

Fatal tour boat unsafe
Deaths of 20 senior citizens on Ethan Allen resulted from too many passengers, instability, NTSB panel told

WASHINGTON -- The Ethan Allen tour boat was grossly overloaded and unbalanced when it made a sharp turn and capsized Oct. 2, drowning 20 senior citizens in Lake George.


The boat was carrying 48 adults, more than four times the weight that later tests determined was safe, and federal investigators suggested the tour boat had been an accident waiting to happen for decades.

A confluence of factors came together in the span of a few seconds and led to the most deadly maritime accident in the Capital Region's recent history, according to more than three hours of testimony that naval experts presented to the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday. The NTSB's final report is not expected for a few weeks.

The boat tilted to the left and dipped low in the bow as it motored north from the dock, officials said.

"The vessel lacked the stability everyone assumed it had," said Robert Henry, a naval architect with NTSB.

In conclusion, NTSB acting chairman Mark Rosenker cited "the vessel's insufficient stability to resist the combined forces of a passing wave or waves, a sharp turn and the resulting involuntary shift of passengers to the port side of the vessel."

Another contributing factor, Rosenker said, was "the failure to reassess the vessel's stability after it had been modified because there was no clear requirement to do so."

The exhaustive question-and-answer session among federal authorities at the NTSB offices reiterated many of the same points contained in thousands of pages of documentation in the preliminary report released by the NTSB June 30, and the Warren County Sheriff's Department's final report in February. That document found no criminal wrongdoing.

But some family members of the victims still do not feel a sense of closure.

"I commend the NTSB for taking a solid first step in determining the probable cause," said Leo Urbaniak, who attended the hearing. He has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his mother, 89-year-old Viola Urbaniak of Michigan.

"It wasn't an act of God," Urbaniak said. "God was not piloting the boat that day."

Urbaniak was responding to the Ethan Allen's captain, Richard Paris, and owner, Shoreline Cruises, who have said the capsizing and deaths were the result of factors they could not control. The defendants raised the Act of God defense in response to nine lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Albany.

Reached at his Lake George home Tuesday, Paris said he had been working outside and wasn't watching the NTSB hearings, which were telecast live over the Web and on TV by Capital News 9.

"It's up to our attorneys to comment. It's been a long process. I'm OK," Paris said.

James Quirk, owner of the family-run Shoreline Cruises, did not return a call seeking comment.

James Hacker, the attorney representing the Urbaniak estate and several other plaintiffs, said the NTSB findings clearly indicate the case is complicated and liability extends to many people.


"There were many factors. It just wasn't the negligence of the owner and operator of the boat," Hacker said. "We are going to have to get the full report and take a hard look at it. It all comes down to what a reasonable person would do," Hacker said.

Also named in the various suits are Scarano Boat Building; Lake George Steamboat Co. Inc.; Shoreline Tours Inc., the Canadian company that organized the tour; the boat engine manufacturer, Cummins Mercruiser Diesel Marine LLC; and the pump maker, Hypro LLC.

The NTSB's questioning of its own experts Tuesday suggested the reason for the instability dated to the early 1970s when a metal pole and canvas canopy were added by a previous owner. The Ethan Allen, launched in 1966 under another name in Groton, Conn., was bought by Shoreline Cruises in 1977.

The initial Coast Guard certification for 48 passengers was not revised and no retesting was done after the modification. The canopy made the vessel so unstable it should not have been allowed to carry any passengers, NTSB experts determined.

In 1989, Quirk hired Scarano Boat Building of Albany to replace the metal-and-canvas canopy with a wooden one with plastic glass windows. Lowering the canopy's height by 15 inches made the Ethan Allen stable enough to carry between 11 and 14 passengers, NTSB experts said.

"We haven't heard anything today that surprises us and we've been familiar with the material the NTSB was presenting for months," said John Scarano, an owner of the boat building firm near the Port of Albany.

"This appeared to be a unique combination of circumstances that hadn't happened in 35 years," said Scarano, who watched the NTSB Webcast. "From what I've seen, nobody did anything they thought was putting anyone's safety at risk."

The instability of the Ethan Allen became apparent when NTSB investigators conducted tests on its sister ship, the de Champlain, at Lake George just days after the accident, Henry said. The boat began to list so quickly and severely when the passenger weight was simulated that the tests were halted.

"If that was going to be a test for the owner to get 48 people on the vessel, he would have failed," said Henry.

The NTSB ruled out factors such as weather, the hull, steering problems, an engine malfunction, a bilge pump failure and other mechanical causes in the capsizing.

The board noted no procedure is in place for post-accident testing. It said Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland violated no maritime regulations when he made a visual inspection of Paris and smelled the captain's breath shortly after the capsizing but decided against testing him for alcohol and drugs.

Nearly 10 months after the catastrophe, the aftermath of the Ethan Allen continues to weigh heavily on survivors and victims' families.

"This has shaken up my wife so much that she's no longer the easygoing, happy-go-lucky person she was," said Terry Charlton, husband of the Michigan group's tour leader, Carol Charlton of Ontario, Canada. He said she has scaled back her tour business and become fearful of riding on boats."Some people are watching the NTSB hearing closely and others have let it go and are trying to move on," said Pat Hawkins, director of the Trenton, Mich., Department of Parks and Recreation. Three members died and 16 survived the Ethan Allen capsizing.

Hawkins said a springtime ceremony with survivors and victims' families "brought some sense of closure, but with ongoing litigation, this will go on and on for us."

The Lake George community is planning to dedicate a memorial on the lakeshore on the first anniversary of the disaster.

Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan, who watched the entire NTSB proceeding, has not yet determined whether to present the case to a county grand jury to consider possible criminal charges.

"I'm meeting with some people this week to go over it. I think we'll be able to figure something out in the next few weeks," Hogan said.

Rachel Homan, whose grandmother, Wilma Lejeune, died in the accident, traveled to the hearing from Toledo, Ohio. "It was a good starting point. There needs to be more stronger regulations for all vessels," Homan said.

NTSB staff found states don't know how many commercial boats ply their waterways and that the rules regarding their operations are lax. Thirty-two states have tour boats sailing that do not fall under Coast Guard regulation, but only seven have regulations.

New York "is a robust state; it tries very hard," staff said. But New York fell short on oversight of vessels on its inland waterways.

After the boat capsized, the state immediately tightened its commercial tour boat regulations to raise the weight limit used to calculate the number of passengers allowed aboard a vessel. It also is giving closer scrutiny to the number of crew members and safety requirement for life vests and emergency instructions.

This fall, the NTSB will discuss the condition and regulations of 1,000 to 2,000 commercial boats at safety meetings with state authorities.

The Coast Guard has asked commercial vessel operators to voluntarily use higher weight limits in preparation for a change in its rules to a 185-pound standard.

The current 140-pound weight calculation is out of date, Rosenker said. The average weight of the Ethan Allen's passengers was 178 pounds, NTSB staff said.

The Ethan Allen, the de Champlain and the Algonquin were removed from Shoreline Cruises tour boat service by Shoreline owner James Quirk.

Shoreline offers cruises with the larger Horicon and the Adirondac.

[John E Hardiman]

From The Albany Times-Union:....snip....

James Hacker, the attorney representing the Urbaniak estate and several other plaintiffs, said the NTSB findings clearly indicate the case is complicated and liability extends to many people.


"There were many factors. It just wasn't the negligence of the owner and operator of the boat," Hacker said. "We are going to have to get the full report and take a hard look at it. It all comes down to what a reasonable person would do," Hacker said.

Also named in the various suits are Scarano Boat Building; Lake George Steamboat Co. Inc.; Shoreline Tours Inc., the Canadian company that organized the tour; the boat engine manufacturer, Cummins Mercruiser Diesel Marine LLC; and the pump maker, Hypro LLC.

...snip.....

The engine manufacturer and the bilge pump manufacturer? Ambulance chaseing at it's best...:rolleyes: .

[George Roberts]

16 years - same boat, same loading, same usage.

It is very hard to believe that that the boat was not properly designed for the situation.

(edited to add - no one insisted on wearing a pfd.

---

Lot's of ambulance chasing.

[George Roberts]

About this 140 pounds per person ...

The formula for capacity is usually written as:

(32 + A/.6)/141

This formula can be written as:

.22 + A/84.6

The 141 pound claim results from the manner in which the formula is written not from fact. Just as foolish to claim that 84.6 pounds per person is the design weight.

---

On stability in general ...

High aspect ratio boats are considered kayaks or canoes and are exempt from the stability test:

A canoe or kayak or similar watercraft is defined as: a watercraft designed to be manually propelled or equipped with a low horsepower motor whose ends do not have a transverse dimension greater than 45% of the maximum beam and whose length to beam ratio is as specified below:
Length Length/Beam Ratio 14 Feet or Less 3:1 to 5:1 Over 14 Feet to 16 Feet 4:1 to 6:1 Over 16 Feet 5:1 to 8:1 ---

It appears that if the boat in question had the same stability, but a 8:1 aspect ratio the stability of the boat would not be an issue.

(One might note that many canoes and kayaks do not fit the definition of canoe and kayak and if over 20' in length also fail the stability test.)

And those huge canoes that take tourists on Lake Superior also fail the test.

---

[John E Hardiman]

Full report is now released. Same web address.

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2006/MAR0603.pdf