One Of Seven Light Airplane Accidents During One Week In Alaska

NTSB officials are investigating a fatal accident that took place on the McKeon Flats near China Poot and Alaska’s Neptune Bay on August  31, that fatally injured a Girdwood AK, pilot. George Vonderheide, 66, was killed when his single-engine Bellanca 7GCBC floatplane collided with a power line crossing the Wosnesenski River. He was the sole occupant.

The NTSB preliminary report indicates that:

 (O)n August 31, 2012, about 1500 Alaska daylight time, a float-equipped, Bellanca 7GCBC airplane,N57511, sustained substantial damage during an impact with terrain, following a collision with a high-tension power cable spanning a river, about 10 miles southeast of Homer, Alaska. The airplane was being operated as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal cross-country flight, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 91, when the accident occurred. Marginal visual meteorological (MVFR) conditions prevailed in the area of the accident. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured. No flight plan was filed, and there is no record that a weather briefing was obtained.

Multiple high tension power cables were draped across the river from the high terrain on the southwest side, to near river level terrain on the northeast side of the river. One cable was severed and laying on the ground. The severed power line had large, orange, power line marking balls attached. The other intact power lines spanning the river were also marked with large orange power line marking balls.

The wire is reported to be 30 to 200 feet above the river, and was marked according to Joe Gallagher, a spokesperson for Homer Electric Association, Inc. (HEA) the rural electric cooperative responsible for the line’s placement and maintenance. An HEA crew that flew into the area to investigate the cause of the reported power outage found the crash as they picked up an ELT signal from the downed plane.

The Bellanca ended up in shallow water with the wings and floats separated from the aircraft as a result of the impact. According to a report in the Alaska Dispatch, Vonderheide was said to be flying rafting gear to Wosnesenski Lake, but went down en route. Weather conditions at nearby Kachemak Bay and Homer were reported as low visibility, rain and low ceilings, but the weather conditions at the crash site is still under investigation, said NTSB investigator Larry Lewis.

Lewis went on to say that the McKeon Flats crash was one of seven airplane crashes in Alaska that week, keeping him and one other investigator busy. It was however the only fatal crash over the Labor Day weekend. "This time of year, especially with the weather turning like it is, if you have any misgivings at all, don't go," Lewis said. "Don't push it too far."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov