NTSB Factual Report

On May 12, 2018, about 0940 Alaska daylight time, a Piper Cherokee PA-28-180 airplane, N7061W, sustained substantial damage after impacting remote, mountainous, snow-covered terrain about 1 mile south-southeast of Whittier, Alaska. The student pilot sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 visual flight rules solo cross-country flight. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the departure airport and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the Merrill Field Airport (MRI,) Anchorage, Alaska, about 0859, and was destined for the Valdez Pioneer Field Airport (VDZ,) Valdez, Alaska.

The purpose of the flight, according to family members, was for the pilot to reposition his airplane from MRI to VDZ for the summer. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control records, the airplane departed MRI at 0859 and preceded to the Turnagain Arm waterway where the pilot reported Bird Creek point at 0916. No further radio communications were received from the pilot. The area between Anchorage and Valdez consists of remote inland fjords, coastal waterways, and steep mountainous terrain which requires flight through numerous mountain passes.

Archived images from the FAA aviation weather cameras on the morning of May 12 at Whittier and Portage Glacier depict low cloud ceilings with obscured mountain tops in the area near the accident site.

According to the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC), an emergency locator beacon (ELT) signal was received about 0940 on May 12, 2018. The ELT was not registered to the airplane owner and there were no overdue airplane reports in Alaska. The AKRCC coordinated a ground and air search with the Civil Air Patrol throughout the day, however weather at the accident site prevented access to the location in the mountains. After a concerned family member reported an overdue airplane to the Kenai Flight Service Station, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert notice (ALNOT) at 1516. The AKRCC coordinated the launch of an Alaska Air National Guard (AKANG) HH-60 helicopter and a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T helicopter from Cordova to continue the search in the Whittier area. About 2100, the USCG helicopter located the wreckage on a steep snow-covered mountain at 2,000 ft elevation. The AKANG helicopter lowered a pararescueman to the site and he observed that the pilot had received fatal injuries. The following day, the Alaska State Troopers search and rescue command coordinated the recovery of the pilot by the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and the Alaska Department of Public Safety Helo 3.

The airplane was outfitted with an Artex 406-megahertz ELT that was designed to instantly transmit a distress signal to search and rescue satellites, thereby alerting rescue personnel within minutes of the location of the crash, and specifically to whom the ELT was registered. However, the registered owner on file was a foreign government entity and the recovered ELT unit was placarded with a country code for Ireland. Title 47 CFR Part 87.199 requires that all U.S. ELTs be registered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) when an airplane or ELT changes ownership and every two years thereafter.

A detailed examination of the airplane wreckage is pending.