Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Yakutat, Alaska 99689
Monday, September 9, 2013 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On September 9, 2013, at an undetermined time, a Piper PA-32-260 airplane, N3705W, operated by a private individual, went missing and is presumed to have crashed at a location between Yakutat, Alaska and Anchorage, Alaska. The airline transport pilot is presumed to have received fatal injuries and the airplane is presumed to have been destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the departure point, Yakutat Airport (YAK), Yakutat, Alaska. A visual flight rules flight plan was filed for the planned flight to Merrill Field (MRI), Anchorage, Alaska. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The flight departed YAK about 1535 Alaska daylight time.
The pilot had recently purchased the airplane and was ferrying it from Georgia to Alaska. The airplane landed uneventfully in YAK and the pilot purchased fuel, before departing on the accident flight. An alert notice was issued by flight service at 2107 for the overdue airplane and an approximate 1-week search was initiated in an area centered 40 miles northwest of YAK, based on limited radar data. The search was conducted by personnel from the Civil Air Patrol, Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Air National Guard, and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with several volunteers. At the beginning of the search and throughout the week, efforts were hampered by poor weather conditions in the area and no emergency locator transmitter signal was received in the area.
The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate, with ratings for airplane multiengine land. He also held a commercial pilot certificate, with a rating for airplane single engine land. In addition, he was a certificated flight engineer and mechanic. The pilot's most recent Federal Aviation Administration third-class medical certificate was issued on July 25, 2013. At that time, he reported a total flight experience of 9,747 hours.
The recorded weather at YAK, at 1553, was: wind 100 degrees at 4 knots; visibility 10 miles; few clouds at 1,700 feet; broken ceiling at 5,000 feet; overcast ceiling at 6,000 feet; temperature 13 degrees C; dew point 10 degrees C; altimeter 30.10 inches Hg.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/9/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | -- |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Yakutat |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99689 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 593012N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1393937W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | YAK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 33 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Alaskan ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 22 2013 3:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grer |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3705W |
| NTSB Number | ANC13FAMS2 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-260 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-618 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 4 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C91 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FOSTER ALAN G |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANCHORAGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 995071323 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | FOSTER ALAN G |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ANCHORAGE |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 995071323 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Yakutat |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1535 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MRI |
| Destination City | Anchorage |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 30 2013 4:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johc |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |