What happened
On the afternoon of December 19, 2005, a scheduled passenger service operated by Flying Boat, Inc. (doing business as Chalk’s Ocean Airways) departed from the Miami Seaplane Base. The aircraft, a Grumman Turbo Mallard registered as N2969, was performing flight 101, an intended route to Bimini, Bahamas. Shortly after the takeoff phase, the aircraft's right wing detached from the fuselage while in flight.
Following the structural failure, the plane descended into a shipping lane located next to the Port of Miami, Florida. The impact with the water was severe enough to destroy the aircraft. There were 20 fatalities recorded, representing the entire group of 18 passengers and 2 crewmembers on board. At the time of the incident, the flight was being conducted under visual flight rules in clear meteorological conditions.
Findings
During the flight, the separation of the right wing served as the primary event leading to the crash into the shipping channel.