Investigators: Seastreak ferry crash caused by operator error
Ryan Hutchins
A commuter ferry crash that injured 80 people in lower Manhattan last year occurred when the veteran captain forgot he had set the boat to manual operation and was confused by its poorly designed control system, investigators said Tuesday.
Troubles for the vessel, known as Seastreak Wall Street, started as it made its second daily journey on Jan. 9, 2013, traveling from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., with 326 passengers and five crew members aboard, investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board at a hearing Tuesday morning.
Near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the captain noticed a vibration and, believing it may have been caused by something wrapped around a propeller, he switched the boat to “backup mode,” allowing for manual adjustments. There was nothing wrong with that change, the investigators said. But the captain never took it out of that manual mode, making it virtually impossible to safely dock when it arrived in New York, the officials said.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/04/8543400/investigators-seastreak-ferry-crash-caused-operator-error?top-featured-3