Piper PA-18-150 accident near St. Mary's, AK
On September 13, 2023, a Piper PA-18-150 (airplane) was involved in an accident near St. Mary's, AK. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- September 13, 2023
- Place
- St. Mary's, AK
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-18-150 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 62.864°N, 161.773°W
- NTSB ID
- 20230913193053
Official records · ANC23FA074
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn September 12, 2023, about 2047 Alaska daylight time (AKDT), a Piper PA-18-150, N109T, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near St. Mary’s, Alaska. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 on-demand flight. Two days before the accident, the pilot ferried a group of five hunters, a guide, and their equipment from the operator’s base in Holy Cross, Alaska, to an airstrip in St Mary’s. The group then set up camp next to the runway, which was oriented north-south within hilly terrain about 70 miles northwest of Holy Cross. The group planned to hunt for a moose and prepare it for transportation back to the operator’s base. The day before the accident, the group successfully hunted a moose and coordinated with the pilot via satellite messaging devices to ferry the meat the next day. On the day of the accident, the pilot arrived at the camp about 1540. The pilot and hunters loaded the airplane with the first batch of meat, and the airplane departed on the north runway. After takeoff, the airplane made an uneventful climbing right turn over an adjacent ridgeline that paralleled the airstrip to the east and then continued in the general direction of Holy Cross. The pilot returned to camp about 1940 for the second and final load. The meat was strapped into the rear passenger seat area by the pilot with both the seatbelt and rope and was also loaded into the airplane’s belly pod, which did not have tie-down provisions. The pilot then tied the moose antlers to the ri
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to operate the airplane above its maximum certificated gross weight, and his installation of an unapproved external load that degraded takeoff performance and flight characteristics resulting in a loss of airplane control during takeoff into an area of mechanical turbulence and downdrafts.
More accidents in AK
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Browse: Alaska · Piper aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
