What happened
During a night flight between Kenai and Homer, an aircraft crashed approximately 200 yards east of a line of power cables. The flight occurred on a moonless night characterized by rising terrain. Radar monitoring indicated that the aircraft was maintaining a consistent altitude, airspeed, and heading while positioned in the vicinity of the crash site.
On the day of the incident, the pilot had been awake since 03:40 for a scheduled 05:00 departure, having obtained roughly six hours of sleep. This specific flight was notable as it was the first instance in which the pilot failed to submit a required company flight plan.
Findings
Information regarding the pilot's recent rest patterns suggests that while the pilot typically averaged between 9 and 11 hours of sleep on off-duty days, the quality of sleep was reportedly poor when away from home. The flight took place under low-visibility conditions due to the lack of moonlight and the presence of terrain.