Investigators looking into the cause of a fatal plane crash last month near McGrath have recovered the wreckage and will soon begin examining it for evidence of mechanical problems.
The chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska office said that investigators are preparing to begin a detailed analysis of the wrecked single-engine plane that crashed in a remote mountainous area about 60 miles south of McGrath.
“We’re just scheduling that exam right now, to get all the parties up here at one point in time and lay hands on the wreckage and see if we can find anything mechanically wrong that may have led to this tragic accident,” NTSB Alaska Chief Clint Johnson said.
Johnson expects investigators to begin that phase of the process in the next couple of weeks. The heavily damaged Piper PA-18 Super Cub that’s stored in a hangar in Wasilla belonged to 58-year-old Cary Foster, the Anchorage-based pilot who died of injuries he sustained in the crash.
“This pilot was well known in the aviation community, had lots of experience,” Johnson said. “We’re going to be drilling down into that experience level during the investigation.”
Investigators also are studying weather conditions around the area where Foster was trying to land so he could drop off supplies for a hunting guide there. An NTSB preliminary report issued Sept. 11 described it as the top of a ridge that’s about 2,500 feet in elevation.
‘He’d been into this site many, many times’
Johnson said that Foster was very familiar with the area.
“We’ve been told by friends of the pilot and also, you know, folks that worked with him that he’d been into this site many, many times,” Johnson said. He added that it was the first time Foster had been back to the site this year.
The preliminary report says that the hunting guide told investigators that winds out of the northeast were blowing at about 15 miles per hour, and that visibility in the area was good.
“Fifteen miles an hour is not that bad,” Johnson said. “However, winds around the mountains could change things – updrafts, downdrafts, crosswinds, what have you. That’s a little bit more unpredictable.”
According to the NTSB report, the guide told investigators that he saw Foster fly over his camp several times to determine windspeed direction and landing conditions. Then, in what appeared to be a final approach, the guide lost sight of Foster’s plane, but heard him rev his engine twice like he was trying to gain altitude.
‘A horrible ordeal’
About 30 seconds later, the guide heard the plane hit the ground.
“He didn’t see the actual impact,” Johnson said. “So he saw the airplane on approach, saw it nose down, heard the crash, and then immediately started running toward it.”
The preliminary report says that when the guide got to the crash site a few minutes later, he found Foster unconscious. He died shortly thereafter.
An Alaska National Guard Rescue Coordination Center team arrived by helicopter later in the day and transported his body back to Anchorage, where it was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Johnson said that the guide and Foster’s many other friends were devastated to learn about the fatal crash.
“These guys were very, very good friends, and unfortunately it was a horrible ordeal to go through,” he said.
The investigation is still in the early stages, Johnson said, adding that it will take months before the NTSB issues a final report.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
