FLYING Magazine
Witnesses said that a Piper PA-24-260 single-engine Comanche that crashed near Alaska’s Seldovia Airport (PASO) last month, killing the pilot and three passengers, was approaching the runway unusually low and fast, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report on the accident.
The aircraft went off the end of the gravel runway, coming to rest in the Seldovia Slough. Aerial photographs of the airport show water off both the approach and departure ends of the runway.
Per the report, published Wednesday, one witness said the aircraft bounced three times on Runway 16 and that he “heard the engine go to full throttle,” indicating that the pilot may have attempted to go around. It appeared the nosewheel hit the ground first. After hearing the sound of the engine throttling up, he said the aircraft “pitched up very high and possibly had a tail strike.”
According to the preliminary investigation by the Alaska Department of Public Safety in August, the Piper submerged completely in the water adjacent to the airport. People at the scene tried to rescue the four occupants but could not reach them, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Per the NTSB’s preliminary report, the airplane departed Anchorage’s Merrill Field Airport (PAMR) on a Part 91 personal flight to Seldovia. The incident occurred around 1:17 p.m. local time on August 26.
A second witness described the PA-24 as flying “unusually low to the ground” past the end of the runway when attempting to land in the opposite direction of other traffic he had observed.
Multiple witnesses recalled the airplane “impacting a tree before descending into the water.”
Runway 16 measures 1,845 feet. According to the FAA’s chart supplement cited by the NTSB, the runway has obstacles in the form of 158-foot trees approximately 1,735 feet from the runway threshold and 110 ft left of the centerline.
Seldovia Airport’s Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) weather station reported wind from 020 at 5 knots with wind gusts at 9 knots at the time of the accident. Visibility was 10 statute miles, and temperature was 55.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
All information in the report is preliminary and subject to change as the NTSB continues to investigate.
The accident occurred less than one week after a chartered Cessna 441 crashed in a remote part of Alaska, killing both pilots and all six passengers.