U.S. investigators say Alaska plane was overweight for icy conditions in crash that killed 10

CBC

20-03-2025

A commuter plane that crashed on sea ice off Alaska, killing all 10 people on board, was half a ton overweight for a trip into icy conditions, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a preliminary report released Wednesday.
The weight is just a "data point" in the ongoing investigation, cautioned Clint Johnson, who leads the NTSB's Alaska region. A final report including probable causes can take a year or more after a crash.
The Feb 6. Bering Air crash was one of Alaska's deadliest plane crashes this century and the third major U.S. aviation mishap in an eight-day stretch. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing all six on board and another person on the ground.
Small airplanes like the Cessna Caravan in this crash are the workhorses of Alaska, where most of the state's 200-plus villages are beyond the road system and only accessible by air or boat. Residents rely on the commuter planes like people living in the Lower 48 depend on cars, using them to get to medical appointments and meetings, to go shopping, to visit relatives or to attend away high school sports games.
The single-engine turboprop plane was flying that afternoon from the community of Unalakleet to Nome, a trip of about 240 kilometres, when authorities lost contact less than an hour after takeoff, David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, said at the time. The Cessna Caravan went missing about 50 kilometres from its destination.
A review of the plane's contents following the crash indicated its estimated gross weight at departure was about 4,475 kilograms — about 480 kilograms over the maximum takeoff gross weight for a flight into areas where icing is in the forecast, the report says. The pilot operating handbook notes the maximum allowable takeoff gross weight for a flight into such conditions was the same as the basic airplane, 3,995 kilograms.
Johnson said it remains to be determined whether the overweight conditions were a factor in the accident. Icing conditions were forecast along the route, and it was snowing, with some freezing rain in Nome, he said. Officials are trying to determine what information was relayed to the pilot, what information he had when he left and whether ice conditions existed at the crash location, he said.
An email seeking comment sent to Bering Air was not immediately returned.
Weather is often a factor in remote Alaska, and while flying is commonplace to most Alaskans, it can be a dangerous endeavor, said Whitney Power Wilson, an aviation accident litigation lawyer and pilot in Anchorage.
"Icing should be concern for all pilots, but especially for pilots of smaller aircraft and pilots who frequently operate in conditions conducive to icing," she said. "The weight of an aircraft, the fact that icing is something that we're dealing with, those considerations have to be taken seriously because the consequences can be so tragic."
Investigators also looked at the plane's altitude. It was flying in an area where moderate icing was possible between 2,000 feet (610 metres) and 8,000 feet (2,438 metres) and where the weather could be hazardous to light aircraft, NTSB chairperson Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference in Nome last month.
Contact was lost shortly after air traffic control told the pilot the runway in Nome would be closed for about 15 minutes for deicing, the report says.
"The controller added that if the pilot wanted to 'slow down a little bit' to prevent the flight from arriving before the runway reopened, that would be fine, and the pilot acknowledged," the report states.
The pilot handbook also indicates an air speed of 95 knots must be maintained to fly in icing conditions if de-icing equipment is fully functional.
About three minutes after the pilot was told to descend to 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) at his discretion, the autopilot disengaged at 99 knots, then dropped within seconds to 70 knots and was at about 3,100 feet (945 meters), the report says. The final satellite tracking data came less than one minute later, at 3:20 p.m., at an altitude of 200 feet.
The anti-icing system on the wings and tail of the five-year-old turbo-propeller airplane was designed to prevent ice from accumulating, the report says.
The operator said the quantity of deicing fluid was checked during each preflight inspection. The pilot is responsible for ensuring there is a sufficient quantity onboard, but there is no requirement to record when it's added to the airplane. A worker at the Unalakleet airport told the pilot that the fluid was available, but the pilot told her the tank was full, according to the report.
The U.S. Coast Guard has said it was unaware of any distress signals from the plane. After an extensive search, the wreckage was found the following day on a drifting ice floe. The pilot and all nine passengers had been killed.