ANC05FA090

The airline transport certificated pilot and the two pilot-rated passengers traveled to Alaska for a Title 14, CFR Part 91 personal flying vacation. The pilot received a VFR check-out in a rented airplane, and was the only person authorized by its owner to fly it. The pilot obtained a weather briefing for the day of the accident flight, and queried an FAA automated flight service station (AFSS) specialist about VFR conditions for a sight-seeing flight. The FSS specialist stated, in part, "Well, it doesn't really look good probably anywhere today..." The area forecast included areas of marginal VFR and IFR conditions, and an AIRMET for mountain obscuration. The cloud and sky conditions included scattered clouds at 1,500 feet in light rain showers, with areas of isolated ceilings below 1,000 feet, and visibility below 3 statute miles in rain showers and mist. The weather briefing included a report from a pilot who was about 23 miles north of the accident scene about 2 hours before the accident airplane departed. The pilot reported fog and mist to the water, and said he was unable to maintain VFR. Five minutes after receiving the weather briefing, the accident pilot again called the AFSS and requested the telephone number to an automated weather observing system, located south of the point of departure, where VFR conditions were forecast. Local fishing charter captains reported fog in the area of the islands where the accident occurred. One vessel captain reported hearing an airplane in the vicinity of the islands, but could not see it because of the fog. The pilot did not file a flight plan, nor did he indicate any planned itinerary. The airplane was reported overdue two days after departure. The accident wreckage was located an additional two days later on the north cliff face of a remote island. The airplane had collided with the island at high speed, about 800 feet mean sea level, and a postcrash fire had incinerated the cockpit and cabin area.

History of flight

On July 1, 2005, at an estimated time of 1200 Alaska daylight time, a wheel-equipped Cessna T207 airplane, N1621U, was destroyed by impact and postimpact fire when it collided with the north side of West Amatuli Island, a part of the Barren Islands, located about 25 miles south-southeast of Nanwalek, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) local area personal flight under Title 14, CFR Part 91, when the accident occurred. The airplane was registered to Aero Tech Flight Service Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, and operated by the pilot. The airline transport certificated pilot, and the two pilot-rated passengers, received fatal injuries. Instrument meteorological conditions are presumed to have prevailed in the area of the accident. The flight originated at the Homer Airport, Homer, Alaska, on July 1, about 1105. No flight plan was filed, nor was one required.

On July 3, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), was notified by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel that the accident airplane had been reported overdue. The wreckage of the airplane was located by a U.S. Coast Guard airplane on July 5, about 200 feet below the top of a ridge on the north face of West Amatuli Island. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to the scene, but due to the steep terrain, did not land. An Air National Guard helicopter with pararescue personnel aboard was dispatched to the scene. They verified the airplane as the missing airplane and recovered the occupants.

According to information provided by Alaska State Troopers personnel, the pilot and the passengers traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, on June 25, 2005. Examination of a hand-written travel itinerary that was found by State Trooper personnel indicated the pilot and passengers planned to visit Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, and Homer, Alaska. Alaska State Troopers, and FAA personnel reported that the airplane arrived in Homer on the evening of June 29. On June 30, the airplane traveled to Kodiak, Alaska, and returned to Homer, and then conducted a flight during the evening hours of the 30th.

On July 1, at 0933, the pilot telephoned the Kenai Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS), Kenai, Alaska, and according to FAA transcrips of the recorded conversation, stated, in part: "...we're in Homer and we're wanting to do some flying sightseeing for the day, and just hope, wondering if you can point us toward the direction where we would have the best luck for VFR conditions."

The fight service station specialist replied, in part: "Well, it doesn't really look good probably anywhere today. Unfortunately, up in the Kenai area right now we've been IFR this morning. They do expect it to improve, but then we've got the fire up in the Sterling [Alaska] area, up in the Skilak [Alaska] area, and the one up in Hope [Alaska], so those gonna affect that. Then in the going the other direction, out further to the west, Big River Lakes is good in that area, but they've also been back and forth this morning, so right now they're marginal with visibility 4 [miles]. The Bristol Bay area is expected to stay that way pretty much, but they've got AIRMETS for IFR, and mountain obscurations over in that area, so you don't really wanna go to the Bristol Bay area. Kodiak, actually right now, looks probably about the best, heading south to Kodiak, cuz going up to Seward [Alaska] doesn't, which is unusual. Usually it's just the opposite, but if you go on up to the Seward area, they've got lower conditions and they're forecasting those for the central gulf coast to be a little bit lower today, which would...(unintelligible)...ceilings they're forecasting marginal VFR, some isolated IFR conditions over in that area...so like I said, anywhere pretty much to the north it looks like it's gonna be worse for you today...it looks better going, like I said, which is usually just the opposite, Kodiak actually looks better today."

The pilot replied, "Well, we flew down to Kodiak yesterday, and things were pretty good until we got there, and they had fog lying in, so the, you know the main field there was socked in with ah Special VFR." The AFSS specialist stated, "I'm checking right now, let's see what Kodiak, what their current conditions are and what the terminal [forecast] is...but yah, it looks like for today, the rest of the areas look pretty bad. Kodiak currently, visibility is 10 [miles], 8,500 [feet] broken, and the terminal [forecast] is calling for wind, 330 [degrees] at 10 [knots], visibility greater than 6 [miles], few clouds at 300 hundred [feet], 1,000 [feet] scattered, 4,000 [feet] broken, and then they expect it to improve after 2 p.m."

The pilot stated that "It sounds like they're clearly VFR right now," to which the AFSS specialist replied, "Right, it does look better going that direction today." The pilot then stated, "Okay, what do you have in terms of just, Oh I don't know the right term, I think it, an area prognostication, or whatever, we, we're trying to make a decision to get the plane up tomorrow or the next day, are things clearing at all or."

The specialist replied, in part: "Right now, looking at the surface charts, which gives us the best...indicator, there is some low pressure down in the Gulf of Alaska, but the charts show that moving off the east, so that actually looks pretty good for tomorrow for the Cook Inlet, Susitna Valley, as that moves out of the area. Then that next low pressure hopefully, is not gonna move in til Sunday, so looking at the charts for tomorrow morning, we have a low pressure ridge that's gonna lay from like the Y-K Delta, and then head up north and go across the area, but it looks better for tomorrow. Looking at the area forecast, in the outlook portion for tomorrow, the forecast for the Cook Inlet, Susitna Valley, they're forecasting the outlook for VFR with some rain showers, so it actually looks better tomorrow." The pilot concluded the briefing at 0937 by stating, "Okay, well that is certainly what we need to know, and you have been very helpful."

At 0942, the pilot telephoned the Kenai AFSS and requested the Kodiak Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) telephone number.

At 1100, the pilot made radio contact the Homer Fight Service Station (FSS) specialist and stated, "Homer traffic, skywagon 1621U is taxiing to [runway] 21." At 1105, the pilot reported that he was on the takeoff roll.

The Barren Islands are located about mid-way between the south end of the Kenai Peninsula, and the north end of Kodiak Island, along the Kennedy Entrance to Cook Inlet. It is comprised of West and East Amatuli, Ushigat, Sugarloaf, Sud, and Nord Islands that are within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Personnel information

The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with airplane single-engine and multiengine land ratings. He also held a flight instructor certificate with airplane single-engine, and instrument airplane ratings. The most recent second-class medical certificate was issued to the pilot on June 7, 2005, and contained the limitation that the pilot must wear corrective lenses.

No personal flight records were located for the pilot and the aeronautical experience listed on page 3 of this report was obtained from a review of the airmen Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records on file in the Airman and Medical Records Center located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On the pilot's application for medical certificate, dated June 7, 2005, the pilot indicated that his total aeronautical experience consisted of about 8,432 hours, of which 254 were accrued in the previous 6 months.

Aircraft information

The pilot rented the airplane from Aero Tech Flight Services Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. He received a VFR airplane check-out by an Aero Tech instructor on June 26. Aero Tech personnel reported that all of the airplane's m