ANC11LA080

On August 16, 2011, about 1435 Alaska daylight time, a Piper PA-18-150 airplane, N4205Z, sustained substantial damage when it presumably crashed in the ocean shortly after takeoff from a remote beach site, about 30 miles west of Cape Yakataga, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal flight under the provisions of the 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, when the accident occurred. The pilot and one passenger are presumed to have died at the scene. On August 22, the body of the passenger was discovered in ocean surf, and the pilot remains missing. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was most likely returning to a remote cabin near Cape Yakataga. During a telephone conversation with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC) on August 17, the Alaska state trooper that discovered the partially submerged wreckage during a routine aerial shoreline patrol, said that when he first saw the airplane it was about 300 yards offshore, and only a portion of airplane's empennage was above the water. He circled the area to search for survivors, and when none were found, he landed his airplane on a small beach site, close to where the wreckage eventually washed ashore. After wading into the ocean surf, the state trooper was able to look inside of the airplane to search for any occupants, but none were found. The state trooper said that after he departed from the beach to continue the aerial search, a Cessna 206 arrived overhead. A passenger aboard the Cessna reported that they were looking for the accident airplane, which was overdue, and that there was a pilot and one passenger aboard the accident airplane when it departed from a remote cabin. He added that the pair planned to land on the beach to collect glacier ice from the banks of the Seal River, which was adjacent to where the airplane was found. During the aerial search, the state trooper said he discovered tracks in the soft beach sand left by a tailwheel-equipped airplane. He said that the tracks headed west, towards the banks of the Seal River. The state trooper noted that the airplane wheel tracks were consistent with a bouncing takeoff run, and the tracks ended just short of the river bank, at the departure end of the site. He said that he was unable to confirm that the tracks on the beach were left by the accident airplane. The Seal River is fast moving, and has large portions of glacial ice that calve from the Bering Glacier upstream. The mouth of the Seal River is regularly filled with large pieces glacial ice, which is then carried by the fast moving current into the ocean waters of the Gulf of Alaska. The airplane wreckage was subjected to numerous tide cycles, with heavy ocean waves, intermixed with large pieces of glacier ice, which pulverized the wreckage. The airplane wreckage was not recovered.