An Anchorage pilot died Saturday morning when his plane crashed while landing south of McGrath, authorities said.
Cary Foster, 58, was the only person aboard the Piper PA-18 Super Cub when it crashed roughly 60 miles south of McGrath, Alaska State Troopers said.
Foster was supporting a hunting operation when he crashed into an area of hilly, mountainous terrain while trying to land around 9 a.m., said Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board. Several hunters on the ground saw the crash and called for help, he said.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers said they tried to respond to the area, but were unable to make it there because of poor weather. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center launched a helicopter rescue crew and located the crash site, according to troopers. Foster’s body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
An NTSB investigator flew to the scene on Sunday to examine the wreckage, Johnson said. The plane had not been recovered by Tuesday afternoon and investigators were working with Foster’s family and the insurance company to do that, he said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash.
There were four other crashes over the weekend near McGrath, Johnson said. None resulted in injuries and there did not appear to be any obvious connections between them, he said.
“Obviously we’re on the doorstep of hunting season, so there’s just a lot more activity out there,” Johnson said.
Another crash near Glennallen left two people with serious injuries on Friday, Johnson said. Troopers said they responded to a report of a plane crash northwest of Slana Friday around 4:20 p.m. The pilot and passenger of the Cessna 150 were both transported to Anchorage hospitals in serious condition, Johnson said.
Few other details were available by Tuesday afternoon. Johnson said NTSB investigators had not yet talked with either of the people aboard or visited the crash site. The wreckage had not been recovered by Tuesday, he said.