14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, March 30, 2012 in Sleetmute, AK
Aircraft: PIPER PA-18, registration: N7276D
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On March 30, 2012, about 1730 Alaska daylight time, a ski-equipped Piper PA-18 airplane, N7276D, sustained substantial damage when it collided with trees and snow-covered terrain following a loss of control while landing, about 26 miles south of Sleetmute, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) cross-country personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The uncertificated pilot, and the one passenger, both sustained fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The accident flight originated at the Sleetmute Airport at an unknown time.
During a telephone interview with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on March 31, a witness and personal friend of the pilot and passenger, reported that the airplane was being used to shuttle fuel and camping supplies to a remote cabin on the banks of the Holitna River. He said that before the airplane arrived, he and another friend used snow machines to pack-down a makeshift landing site on the frozen, snow-covered river. After the pilot finished transporting all of the fuel and supplies, the pilot and passenger departed the site to check the condition of the river ice upstream. About 30 minutes later, he said he saw the airplane flying towards the makeshift site, flying "low and slow" over the treetops as it approached. He said that as the airplane flew towards the landing site threshold, it began a slight right turn, and then he heard the engine speed increase to a very high rpm setting. The airplane then nosed down abruptly, and it began a 3/4 spiral turn downward, while descending from view into the trees at the approach end of the site.
The airplane collided with the snow and tree-covered terrain in a near-vertical attitude.
On March 31, the NTSB IIC, along with two Alaska State Troopers, and a Federal Aviation Administration operations inspector from the Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), examined the wreckage site. No mechanical anomalies were noted during the wreckage examination.
The closest weather reporting facility was the Sleetmute Airport, 26 miles north of the accident site. At 1716, a weather observation from the Sleetmute Airport was reporting, in part: Wind, 020 degrees (true) at 4 knots; visibility, 10 statute miles; clouds and sky condition, 9,000; temperature, 39 degrees F; dew point, 16 degrees F; altimeter, 29.30 inches Hg.
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RED DEVIL, Alaska —Alaska State Troopers say two men died Friday evening after their plane crashed while attempting to land near the Holitna River.
It happened about 5:30, when troopers say the Super Cub's pilot, 42-year-old Richard Wilmarth of Red Devil, attempted to land on a private airstrip.
His passenger, Sleetmute Tribal Administrator Kenneth Mellick, also died in the crash. The 45-year-old was also an Alaska Power Association board member.
Troopers say that the cause of the crash has not yet been determined and the investigation is ongoing. A plane crash Friday near the village Red Devil killed two men landing on a private airstrip, Alaska State Troopers said.
The red and white Piper Super Cub, registered to pilot Richard Wilmarth, was landing close to the Holitna River when it crashed for reasons so far unknown, according to troopers. Wilmarth, 42, and passenger Kenneth Mellick, 45, both died, troopers said.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Admistration and the National Transportation Safety Board were said to be looking into the cause of the crash.
Mellick, a resident of Sleetmute, was the village's tribal administrator and an Alaska Power Association board member.
The bodies of Wilmarth and Mellick will be flown to Anchorage for an autopsy, troopers said.
Sleetmute and Red Devil are both along the Kuskokwim River.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A man who was piloting a plane when it crashed near Red Devil was not a certified pilot and took the plane without his father's permission.
The plane crashed Friday evening, killing Richard L. Wilmarth, 42, and a passenger, 45-year-old Kenneth Mellick, according to Monday's Anchorage Daily News (http://bit.ly/HMOUmb ). Mellick lived in Sleetmute, where he was the village's tribal administrator and an Alaska Power Association board member.
Richard C. Wilmarth said his son struggled with drug abuse and was in and out of trouble, so he never got his pilot's license. But, he said, his son was a capable pilot and had been doing better the last few years.
The younger Wilmarth took the Piper Super Cub to ferry fuel, food and camping gear to a remote cabin where some friends were planning to spend the weekend snowmachining. The plane crashed south of the western Alaska village of Red Devil as the two were checking out conditions for snowmachining. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Wilmarth said his son had been flying the Super Cub since he was a teenager. But, he said, he told him not to fly this winter because he didn't want him using all the aviation fuel.
Two of the friends were on the ground when the plane crashed and told transportation investigator Clint Johnson what they saw. Wilmarth had already dropped off the supplies when he took off with Mellick. They were heading back, maybe 25 minutes later, sometime after 5 p.m. Friday, Johnson said. Both the men on the ground saw the plane coming in.
"When they first saw it, it was low, very slow," Johnson said. They heard the engine rev up.
"They noticed the airplane was nose down, spinning, and got about two spins in before it hit the ground," Johnson said. It slammed into the ground nose first, he said.
Johnson and two state troopers flew out to the crash site over th e weekend. Johnson said he found nothing wrong mechanically with the Super Cub.
The witness descriptions indicate the plane went into "an aerodynamic stall" and that the pilot lost control, Johnson said. He said the investigation is in its early stages.
Richard L. Wilmarth lived in Red Devil in the family home where he spent much of his youth, his father said. The crash happened about 40 miles south of Red Devil. The family settled there so the older Wilmarth could work as a miner.
"I had told him not to use the airplane, although he was a very capable pilot, who was flying that same airplane when he was 13, 14 years old," the father said.
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