WASILLA -- The Wasilla pilot killed in a Prince William Sound plane crash April 14 had hoped to descend below the clouds and land on an island before he went down, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
Searchers late the next day found the remains of 53-year-old Dale Carlson and parts of his wheel-equipped Cessna 180 near Culross Island, an area of remote fjords and steep terrain about 18 miles east of Whittier.
A flight tracking system aboard Carlson's plane showed his last known location near the island's eastern shore, at an altitude of 69 feet and traveling at 80 knots, according to a preliminary report the federal safety agency released last week.
The day of the crash, Carlson took off from Wasilla for the Valdez airport around noon, the report says. He was about 60 miles southwest of Valdez and cleared for instrument approach at 1:15 p.m. when he began his descent. Carlson was an experienced, instrument-rated pilot on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan.
As he dropped below 10,000 feet, Carlson told an Anchorage air-traffic controller that he was experiencing engine problems, according to the report.
The 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center received a mayday call from Carlson near Perry Island, the Coast Guard said last week. He reported engine failure and said he was going to try to set the plane down.
Carlson told the air-traffic controller he intended "to descend below a cloud layer and land on a nearby island," the NTSB report said. Shortly after that, controllers lost radar contact with the plane. Another pilot picked up a radio transmission that Carlson was at about 5,500 feet and still in the clouds. An emergency locator transmitter signal broadcasted for about 20 seconds shortly after that.
Searchers discovered the plane's left main landing gear strut and tire last week, the report says. The rest of the plane is presumed to have sunk into the Sound.
Carlson's family told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman they plan to use any memorial donations to buy GPS devices for new pilots.