A plane that crashed and killed the husband of the then American representative Mary Pisho, D-Alaska, two years ago was overloaded with alce meat and antlers, federal researchers said this week.
Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., 57, was driving a Piper Pa 18-150 Super Cub when he fell in the mountains northeast of St. Mary’s on September 12, 2023.
The veteran pilot was working with a group of hunters who had camped in the remote desert and was transporting parts of an alce they had killed, authorities said.
The pilot did not use scales to weigh the load and the plane was 117 pounds above its maximum takeoff weight, according to the final NTSB report.
Alce’s antlers secured to the right wing of the plane, a normal practice in Alaska. But that requires the login of the FAA and “there was no evidence that this approval for the accident plane has been granted,” according to the report.
The plane transported around 500 pounds of alces: 110 pounds of leg, 150 pounds of rear rooms, 50 pounds of ribs, 110 pounds of other cuts and 70 pounds of antlers, showed the NTSB records.
“The descending works, together with the overweight plane and the drag and additional side weight imbalance caused by the antlers in the right wing, would probably have turned out that the plane has an insufficient authority of power and/or control to maneuver over the terrain,” the report said.
Shortly after takeoff, Hunter Travis Hopkins was on the floor and “recalled having heard a spray sound and then silence,” according to NTSB findings previously revealed.
Hopkins ran to the top of a nearby hill and saw remains before running to the scene, finding “the still conscious pilot in the front seat, but had suffered facial injuries,” said the NTSB.
Hopkins used satellite communications to ask for help at 8:48 pm, authorities said.
A Alaska National Guard helicopter arrived at some point between 1:30 am and 2 am with the hope of taking the pilot to the hospital closest to about 400 miles away in Anchorage, authorities said.
The pilot was talking and did not seem to have an obvious pain, but “he became less receptive for the next two hours until he responded and could no longer find a pulse,” said the NTSB.
The “cause of death of the victim was multiple wounds of forceful force, and her death form was accident,” said the NTSB.
The pilot’s wife, Mary Peltola, became a national figure in August 2022 when she became Alaska’s first native to win a seat in Congress.
The Democrat beat the Republican rivals that included former governor Sarah Palin, to take the seat that had been scheduled by representative Don Young, who died in March of that year at the age of 88.
Peltola won the elections in the complete mandate in November 2022 before Republican Begich surpassed it last year.
Cristian Santana and Austin Mullen contributed.
