Pilot and 3 passengers killed in crash of Yute Commuter Service plane near St. Mary’s

A plane carrying three passengers from Bethel to the village of St. Mary’s crashed Sunday night in a remote area within a mile of the runway, killing all four men aboard.

The Cessna 207 was operated by Yute Commuter Service and was carrying people affiliated with the company rather than charter or scheduled passengers, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board. Johnson said the agency is investigating the crash.

The person flying the plane was an off-duty Yute pilot, accompanied by a Yute employee, a former employee and another person on a personal trip, according to a social media post from the company’s managers.

“All of us at Yute are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families of the four individuals involved,” the company said.

This plane took off Sunday evening for St. Mary’s, Johnson said. But before it arrived, the pilot requested a “special VFR” visual rules clearance or an exemption from rules governing flights in bad weather, he said.

“They did not make the airport,” Johnson said. The plane crashed about a half mile from the runway at St. Mary’s just after 10 p.m. Sunday, he said.

The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center contacted the Alaska State Troopers about an overdue aircraft in the St. Mary’s area at about 11:15 p.m., troopers said in an online dispatch Monday. Troopers based in the village responded to the plane’s last known location and found the wreckage, they said.

Wildlife Troopers and officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped move the men’s bodies to a road for transport to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy, troopers said.

The Yute office in Bethel was closed on Monday.

National Weather Service observations at St. Mary’s Airport on Sunday just before 10 p.m. included 15 mph winds, light rain and fog or mist, and 2.5 miles of visibility. At Bethel, conditions included 18 mph wind gusting to 30 and 5 miles of visibility.

Yute operates flights throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. The company has been involved in several crashes in recent years, including one near Tuntutuliak in 2020 that left five dead and also involved a special visual rules clearance.

Paklook Air Inc. does business as Yute Commuter Service. Paklook is owned by Michael “Wade” Renfro and Jacqueline Renfro, according to state corporation records. Wade Renfro owned the plane involved in Sunday night’s crash, officials said.

It was the third fatal Alaska plane crash in four days. Two men died Friday in a crash on the Kenai Peninsula near Tustumena Lake. On Saturday, a 71-year-old Anchorage man died when his modified experimental plane crashed on a road near Wasilla.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Paklook Air Inc. as the parent company of Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures. Paklook does not own Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures.