What happened
The incident occurred as the commercial herring fishing season was scheduled to begin at 1600 hours. According to witness accounts, approximately thirty aircraft were actively circling in left-hand patterns over merging schools of herring near a shoreline. These pilots and their respective boat crews were waiting for the official opening signals to commence the harvest.
The aircraft were operating under a low overcast sky directly above the area where the fish were converging. Two specific planes, a Piper PA-18 with registration N82554 and a Cessna 182H with registration N4798U, collided while the pilots were engaged in spotting fish.
Of the six witnesses who observed the collision, five agreed that the Cessna was converging from inside the radius of the Piper's turn at the time of impact. Following the mid-air collision, both aircraft impacted a bluff located near the shoreline. Witnesses described the flight activity over the fish during the opening of the herring season using terms such as 'frantic', 'chaotic', and 'insane', highlighting the intense pressure associated with the lucrative rewards of the event.