Piper PA-18-150 Destroyed in Spin Near Anchor Point, Alaska (N1880P)

Accident Overview and Flight History On December 8, 2023, at approximately 1312 Alaska standard time, a Piper PA-18-150, registration N1880P, was destroyed in an accident near Anchor Point, Alaska. The aircraft was operating as a personal flight under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Both the pilot and passenger were fatally injured. A witness near the site reported hearing the engine's RPM increase before observing the aircraft inverted and spinning in a nose-low attitude toward the ground. A vehicle dash-mounted camera captured approximately seven seconds of the descent from 450 feet above ground level until the aircraft disappeared behind trees. Video analysis confirmed the aircraft was in an inverted flat spin, falling vertically at a calculated rate of about 4,000 feet per minute with no forward momentum. The right wing, empennage, landing gear, and wheel/skis remained intact and attached. The left wing's outboard section was partially separated, folded in a V-shape, and held to the fuselage by lift struts. The left side of the aft fuselage was compromised, deflecting the empennage left of its original position. Propeller blades remained in a fixed orientation throughout the visible frames. Data from a Garmin Aera 500 portable GPS receiver indicated the flight departed King Salmon, Alaska, at approximately 1123 and flew northeast. The pilot climbed to about 9,600 feet mean sea level before crossing the open waters of Cook Inlet toward Anchor Point. A descent began at approximately 1304 near the east side of the inlet, with an initial rate of about 420 feet per minute that increased to about 1,000 feet per minute. The rate remained steady until the aircraft crossed the shoreline at about 4,500 feet mean sea level around 1311, when the descent rate abruptly increased to 4,000 feet per minute. NTSB investigators requested archived Federal Aviation Administration radar or Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast data, but the initial search yielded no track information due to incorrect time and date parameters. A follow-up request was submitted, but the radar data had already been purged. The aircraft was not equipped with ADS-B. An aerial reconnaissance of the route did not reveal any probable tree impact sites. A reported radio or phone call stating, “I need to get this airplane on the ground,” could not be substantiated, and a review of the pilot and passenger phones showed no calls made around the time of the accident. The pilot’s logbook was not located during the investigation.