Zenith CH-701 Went Down During Search For Grizzly Bear

The NTSB has released a preliminary report for an accident that occurred near Big Lake, Alaska, which resulted in the fatally injury of the pilot of a Zenith CH-701.

According to the report, on September 9, about 1300 Alaska daylight time, an experimental/homebuilt Zenith CH-701 airplane, N701MG, sustained substantial damage when it collided with trees and the ground following a loss of control while maneuvering, about  4 miles northwest of Big Lake, Alaska. The private pilot was fatally injured, and the sole passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to, and operated by the pilot as a visual flight rules (VFR) personal local flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from the Kucera Residence Airport, Big Lake, Alaska about 1218. 
 
According to a close family member of the pilot, the purpose of the flight was to locate a large male grizzly bear that had been leaving tracks on the family’s private runway over the last several years. When a report came in that the bear had been seen protecting a moose kill in the area, the pilot decided to take the airplane, and see if he could locate the bear.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) reached the accident site on the afternoon of September 10. The wreckage was located in an area of sparsely populated spruce trees which had been previously burned  by a forest fire. The airplane came to rest upright, in a nose-low attitude, and it was resting on a tangled mass of dead fallen trees and branches. All the primary flight control surfaces were identified at the accident site, and flight control continuity was verified from all of the primary flight control surfaces to the cockpit. A detailed wreckage examination is pending following recovery of the airplane.
 
The closest fully operational weather reporting facility at the time of the accident was the Birchwood Airport, about 17 miles southeast of the accident site. At 1256, an Aviation Routine Weather Report (METAR) was reporting, in part: wind 230 degrees at 3 knots, 10 statute miles; clouds and sky condition, clear; temperature, 55 degrees; dew point, 50 degrees; altimeter, 29.70 inHg.

(Zenith CH-701 pictured in file photo. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov