9 Aug 2023: PIPER PA-18-150 — Remote Air Alaska

9 Aug 2023: PIPER PA-18-150 (N4481Z) — Remote Air Alaska

2 fatalities • Skwentna, AK, United States

Probable cause

An impact with terrain for reasons that could not be determined because the airplane was not recovered due to the inaccessible nature of the accident site.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On August 9, 2023, about 1215 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-18-150 airplane, N4481Z, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident about 60 miles northwest of Skwentna, Alaska. The pilot and passenger sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was being operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on-demand charter flight. The airplane was operated by Willow Creek Aviation, LLC, in support of a remote sheep hunting excursion. The passenger and a friend chartered Willow Creek Aviation, LLC, to transport them and their hunting gear to the Dillinger River area. On August 6, 2023, the pilot and the two hunters departed from the Big Lake Airport (PAGQ), Big Lake, Alaska, and conducted a scouting trip in the pilot’s Cessna 206 airplane to check out the Dillinger River area for a possible hunting location and a suitable landing area for the pilot’s PA-18 airplane. The passengers were planning for an 8-to-10-day hunting trip. On the morning of the accident, about 0830, the pilot and the two hunters departed PAGQ in Willow Creek Aviation’s Cessna 206 airplane and they landed at a remote airstrip in an area referred to as Donkey Creek. The hunters and hunting gear were offloaded and the pilot returned to PAGQ to pick up his PA-18, the accident airplane. The pilot returned to Donkey Creek in the PA-18 and loaded one hunter and his gear for the flight to the hunting location near the Dillinger River (see Figure 1). The pilot informed the other hunter he was expected to return in about 2 hours to pick him up and transport him to the planned hunting location. Figure 1. Planned flight overview and accident site location. Based on a cellular phone video from the other hunter, the airplane departed from Donkey Creek about 1150, and no further communications were received from the pilot or passenger. About 1600, after the airplane did not return to Donkey Creek, the hunter contacted family members using a satellite messaging device to see if they were aware of the overdue airplane’s status. Over the next several hours, family members and friends attempted to communicate with the pilot and passenger’s satellite messaging devices, but those attempts were unsuccessful. About 2130, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alert notice was issued for the overdue airplane. Search and rescue operations began that evening by the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC). Initial search flights were then suspended due to poor weather in the identified search area. On August 10th, about 0930, the airplane wreckage was located by the AKRCC at the bottom of an estimated 500 to 600 ft deep narrow ravine of the West Fork of the Yentna River, also known as Shellabarger Pass in Denali National Park and Preserve (see Figures 2 and 3). Figure 2. Accident site location (airplane circled in red) Figure 3. Airplane wreckage in bottom of ravine

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 180/07kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.