A small plane that crashed on the Kenai Peninsula last month, killing two Kasilof men, seemed to lose engine power before the crash, after which much of the fuselage was consumed in a fire, investigators say.
An initial National Transportation Safety Board report on the Aug. 22 crash of the Cessna 180 near Cohoe Loop Road in Kasilof was released Tuesday. Pilot Brian Nolan, 69, and Peter Lahndt, 57, died in the wreck, which occurred during "low-level maneuvers" roughly 5 miles southwest of Kasilof.
According to the report, a Kasilof homeowner standing on his deck overlooking Cook Inlet saw the crash at about 8:20 p.m. When he first saw the Cessna, it was about 20 feet above the beach, then entered a 45-degree climb to level off at 300 feet of altitude -- roughly 100 feet above the nearby tree-line.
"He said that as the nose of the airplane began to lower, he heard a reduction in engine power, followed by a sound that was consistent with an engine misfiring," NTSB investigators reported. "The airplane then descended into an area of tree-covered terrain at the top of the bluff, and it disappeared from view. Immediately after, a loud sound consistent with an impact was heard."
A second person in the area also told the agency he had heard "noises consistent with an engine sputtering" in the moments before the crash.
After the crash, a fast-moving fire -- seen by the first witness -- engulfed the plane. Clint Johnson, the NTSB Alaska chief, said at the time, the blaze made the wreck "nonsurvivable."
"The witness said that as he approached the site, about .1 mile from his previous location, a post-impact fire had already consumed a large portion of the wreckage, and firearms ammunition could be heard exploding from within the burning airplane," NTSB investigators reported.
When investigators visited the crash site on Aug. 23, they found the Cessna in an area filled with spruce trees and dense brush. The fire had "incinerated the fuselage and left wing of the airplane."
The Soldotna Airport, about 15 miles northeast of the crash site, reported weather at the time as clear skies with 10 miles of visibility and winds from the northwest at 8 knots.
The NTSB plans to make a detailed inspection and examination of the Cessna's airframe and its Continental Motors O-470-series engine.
A Sept. 1 obituary for Nolan said he died "doing what he loved: sharing his passion for flying with a friend."
Alaska Dispatch News reporters Beth Bragg and Zaz Hollander contributed to this story.