BIG LAKE -- Witnesses saw Joe Mielke's Cessna 150F make a climbing turn, roll to the left and then drop nose first behind a stand of tall birch trees before it plummeted into a two-lane road near Houston High School on Oct. 8.
The fiery crash killed the 23-year-old commercial pilot from a well-known Big Lake family who started working for Yute Air in Bethel in April.
The witness accounts come from a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released Tuesday morning. The report includes the first findings of investigators, based on weather, witness accounts and an examination of the wreckage. But investigators have yet to conduct a detailed examination of the plane's Continental Motors O-200 engine. A probable-cause report could take up to a year.
An NTSB investigator and Federal Aviation Administration inspector "found no mechanical irregularities that would have precluded normal operation," the report states. The weather at Wasilla, 9 miles away, was overcast at 12,000 feet, with 13-knot winds gusting to 19 and 10 miles of visibility.
No flight plan was filed, investigators say.
Mielke loved to fly and took to it quickly, family and friends said during a memorial service at Faith Bible Fellowship Church in Big Lake last week. Friends described how he would fly over their homes and sometimes send aerial photos when he did. His brother said he loved to practice stalls, sometimes literally making himself sick in the process.
"He was the quickest person to get a pilot's license I taught in 50 years flying," Ray Johnson, Mielke's initial flight instructor, said during the service.
Mielke's first solo flight in March 2013 was followed by a private pilot certification that same year, commercial pilot certification in 2014 and flight instructor this year, according to an obituary written by his family.
The morning of the accident, Mielke departed from Big Lake Airport and then flew to Cubdivision Airport, a 1,200-foot-long by 100-foot-wide private gravel-covered airstrip, at about 12:30 p.m., according to the NTSB report. Witnesses watched at 1:40 p.m. as Mielke departed the airstrip to the north, made a left climbing 270-degree turn and flew crosswind over the runway.
At 300 feet up, the plane's climb "shallowed slightly" as the Cessna flew over a workshop and house on the airstrip, the report says.
"As the airplane flew in a northeasterly direction, and away from the airport, witnesses reported that the airplane began another climbing left turn," it continues. "During the turn, the airplane rolled to the left, then it descended vertically, nose first, and it subsequently descended behind a stand of tall trees and out of sight of the witnesses."
An 'intentional' life
Friends and family gathered at last Thursday's memorial service remembered Mielke's big smile, kind heart, adventurous soul and strong Christian faith. The Bible he read constantly was inside the Cessna and survived the crash.
"Joe truly believed. He was not afraid to die. As a dad kind of grieving through the loss, that's the biggest comfort," said his father, Phillip Mielke. "I know where he is. It's the hole he left behind that worries me."
Mielke was also described as an avid reader with a probing, curious mind who threw himself into his passions with such vigor that he once broke his leg trying to get from one tree to another, 40 feet off the ground, said his younger brother, Samuel.
"He really put a lot of energy into all the things he did," Samuel Mielke said.
Mielke served the church, teaching Sunday school, playing the piano and helping lead small youth groups, the obituary said.
Mielke's family -- parents Phil and Helen, brother Samuel, and sisters Esther, Lydia and Hannah -- stood on a stage at the church and told uplifting or funny stories about him in loving commentary sprinkled with Bible verses.
Sister Esther Mielke said she and Joe spent the summer together and learned not to fight because their parents weren't around to solve their problems.
They hiked, played piano and organ, and gardened. And they had what Esther Mielke described as "weekslong" conversations about everything from government's role in plowing roads to whether it was OK to lie to save someone's life.
Their last conversation was about antibiotic cream, she said. "Every moment of your day, realize it could be your last."
Mielke was born in Palmer and moved with his parents to Hong Kong at 6 months old before moving to Big Lake after he turned 2, his obituary said. He was homeschooled and got a history degree in just over two years of self-study at Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. He read through the Bible every year for most of his life.
"He lived a very intentional life," said Ben Mosier, a youth pastor at Faith Fellowship. "He crammed more into 23 years than most people do in their entire life."