Plane in fatal Alaska crash had too much moose meat, dragged antlers, NTSB says

Juneau, Alaska — A small plane that crashed in 2023 while carrying moose meat for hunters in remote western Alaska, killing the husband of former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, was overweight for takeoff and encountered drag from a set of antlers mounted outside, federal investigators said in a report released Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board, in its final report on the crash that killed Eugene Peltola Jr., who was the only person on board the aircraft, listed several factors among its probable cause findings. They included decisions by Peltola to fly the plane above its maximum takeoff weight and affix a set of moose antlers on the right wing strut that caused a drag, along with turbulent flight conditions in the area.

Downdrafts, "along with the overweight airplane and the added drag and lateral weight imbalance caused by the antlers on the right wing, would likely have resulted in the airplane having insufficient power and/or control authority to maneuver above terrain," the report states.

"Number one was, obviously, the overweight condition — no ifs, ands, or buts there," CBS Anchorage affiliate KYES-TV quotes NTSB Alaska Region Chief Clint Johnson as saying. "The parasitic drag from the antlers that were attached to the right wing, and then also the last thing would be the wind, the mechanical wind turbulence at the end of the takeoff area, which unfortunately, led to this accident.

"If you would have been able to take one of those items out, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But those things all in combination led to this tragic accident."

The Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub crashed Sept. 12, 2023, northeast of the small western Alaska community of St. Mary's. Peltola had days earlier taken five hunters, a guide and equipment from the community of Holy Cross to an airstrip at St. Mary's. The group set up camp next to the runway, which was near hilly terrain and about 70 miles northwest of Holy Cross, the agency said.

The day before the crash, the group got a moose and made plans with Peltola, via satellite messaging devices, for him to transport the meat, the NTSB said. On the day of the crash, Peltola had already picked up a load of meat and had returned for another. He didn't use scales to weigh the cargo, the agency said.

"The meat was strapped into the rear passenger seat area with both the seatbelt and rope and was loaded into the airplane's belly pod, which did not have tie-down provisions," a September 2023 NTSB preliminary report on the crash said.

The NTSB found about 150 pounds of the meat in the forward section of the belly pod after the crash, the report said. One of the hunters said Peltola Jr. told him he would be running on reserve fuel by the time he arrived back at Holy Cross.

Two hunters were at the site when the crash occurred and provided aid to Peltola, the agency previously reported. Peltola died of his injuries within about two hours, the agency said.

"Given the remote location of the accident site, which was about 400 miles from a hospital, and accessible only by air, providing the pilot with prompt medical treatment following the accident was not possible," Tuesday's report states.

The agency said carrying antlers on the outside of a plane is a common practice in Alaska but requires formal approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, with a notation in the plane's logbooks. "There was no evidence that such approval had been granted for the accident airplane," the report states.

Peltola was a former Alaska regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and worked for decades for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He had received his commercial pilot's license in 2004, requiring him to use corrective lenses at all distances, according to an FAA database.

His death came almost exactly a year after Mary Peltola was sworn in as Alaska's lone U.S. House member, following a special election for the seat. Mary Peltola, who is Yup'ik, was the first Alaska Native in Congress.

Peltola, a Democrat, defeated former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in a 2022 special election for the House seat, which had been left vacant after Rep. Don Young died in office at the age of 88.

She won a full, two-year term in November 2022 but lost her reelection bid last November and has kept a relatively low public profile since then.