What happened
On September 15, 2018, a Piper PA-12-150 departed from Fairbanks International Airport (FAI) for a personal flight to the Alaska Range. The purpose of the flight was to hunt sheep. No flight plan was filed for the trip. After the pilot failed to report to work on September 19, the FAA issued an alert notice, and a large-scale search and rescue operation involving the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard, Civil Air Patrol, and Alaska State Troopers began the following day.
A volunteer eventually located the wreckage of N7511H in a remote, snow-covered mountainous valley approximately 35 miles east of Healy, Alaska. An Alaska Army National Guard helicopter crew reached the site and confirmed that both the pilot and the passenger were 2 fatal.
The investigation
The wreckage was found at an elevation of approximately 4,300 feet in a valley containing rocks, alder trees, and a small creek. The aircraft was positioned upright with the fuselage banking to the right. While the tail showed little impact damage, the wings showed evidence of forward and aft crushing. A postcrash fire had heavily damaged much of the wreckage.
An examination of the engine and airframe revealed no mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have prevented normal operation. Investigators noted that the aft right wing spar showed signs of compression bending, and the left wing forward spar showed forward bending.
Data recovery from the aircraft's Garmin Aera GPS was not possible because the circuit board was delaminated and components were destroyed by thermal damage. Additionally, the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) failed to broadcast, though investigators could not determine if this was due to the postimpact fire or another factor.