Accident Details
On August 9, 2023, at about 1215 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-18-150 airplane, registration N4481Z, was destroyed when it crashed approximately 60 miles northwest of Skwentna, Alaska. The pilot and the sole passenger sustained fatal injuries. The aircraft was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on-demand charter flight, operated by Willow Creek Aviation, LLC, in support of a remote sheep hunting excursion.
Background
The passenger and a friend had chartered Willow Creek Aviation to transport them and their hunting gear to the Dillinger River area. On August 6, 2023, the pilot and the two hunters departed from Big Lake Airport (PAGQ) in Big Lake, Alaska, in the pilot's Cessna 206 for a scouting trip to identify a suitable hunting location and landing area for the PA-18. The hunters planned an 8-to-10-day hunting trip.
On the morning of the accident, about 0830, the pilot and the two hunters departed PAGQ in the Cessna 206 and landed at a remote airstrip at Donkey Creek. After offloading the hunters and gear, the pilot returned to PAGQ to pick up the PA-18. He then flew back to Donkey Creek, loaded one hunter and his gear, and departed for the hunting location near the Dillinger River. The pilot informed the remaining hunter that he expected to return in about two hours.
Accident Sequence
Based on a cellular phone video taken by the other hunter, the PA-18 departed Donkey Creek about 1150. No further communications were received from the pilot or passenger. Around 1600, when the airplane had not returned, the hunter contacted family members via satellite messaging device to inquire about the overdue aircraft. Over the next hours, family and friends attempted to contact the pilot and passenger via satellite messaging, without success. About 2130, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert notice for the overdue airplane.
Search and Recovery
Search and rescue operations commenced that evening by the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC). Initial search flights were suspended due to poor weather in the identified area. On August 10, at about 0930, AKRCC located the wreckage at the bottom of an estimated 500- to 600-foot-deep narrow ravine of the West Fork of the Yentna River, also known as Shellabarger Pass, within Denali National Park and Preserve. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact.