ANC93LA130

The pilot took off from a beach en route to yakutat, Alaska, located approximately 40 miles away. The weather along the route of flight was reported to have been marginal VFR, with visibilities less than 1/2 mile. The next day pieces of airplane wreckage identified as being from the accident airplane, were found about 4 miles off shore near the point of departure. Other small pieces of wreckage were later found on the beach, along with several personal items belonging to the pilot. The bodies were never found.

On July 30, 1993, at approximately 1115 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 170 airplane, N8190A, crashed into the Gulf of Alaska in the vicinity of Dry Bay, Alaska, located about 30 miles southeast of Yakutat, Alaska. The airline transport pilot and one passenger, his wife, were presumed to have been fatally injured, and the airplane destroyed. The business flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed a beach site about 5 miles southeast of Dry Bay at approximately 1100, and was destined for Yakutat. The exact meteorological conditions at the crash site were unknown, and no flight plan was filed.

Information in Block 76 "Weather Conditions at accident site", is based on the 1050 Yakutat weather observation. That observation included a remark saying that the visibility to the southeast of Yakutat was 1 and 1/4 mile. The National Weather Service, and other pilots in the area, reported that the weather between Dry Bay and Yakutat was marginal VFR to IFR around the time of the accident, and was considerably worse than what was reported at the pilot's point of departure. One man on the beach from where the flight originated reported that when the airplane took off the visibility was from 1/2 to 1 mile. The Dry Bay area is well known to many local pilots for its frequent foggy and low visibility conditions.

Found on the beach near Dry Bay was a right main landing gear, with the wheel and tire still attached. The wheel was loosely attached by only one of the four attaching bolts. Attached to the upper end of the landing gear were several small broken parts of an airframe. The landing gear was identified as that from a Cessna 180 airplane, while the pieces of airframe were from a Cessna 170. The accident airplane, a Cessna 170, was reportedly equipped with a Cessna 180 landing gear. The tire was also identified as the same size and type that had been installed on the accident airplane. Also found on the beach were several of the pilot's personal items, with his name on one of them. As of the date of this report, the two occupants have not been found.