by In a report released Tuesday, federal officials said that the small plane that crashed in 2023 while carrying moose meat for hunters in remote western Alaska killed the husband of former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The plane was too heavy to take off, and a set of antlers on the outside caused drag.
In its final report on the crash that killed Eugene Peltola Jr., the only person on board the plane, the National Transportation Safety Board named a number of things as likely causes. Peltola’s choices to fly the plane above its maximum takeoff weight and attach moose horns to the right wing strut, which caused drag, were two of them. The weather in the area was also rough during the flight.
The downdrafts, “along with the airplane being overweight and the added drag and lateral weight imbalance caused by the antlers on the right wing, would likely have made the plane lack the power and/or control to maneuver above terrain,” the study says.
The Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub went down on September 12, 2023, just northeast of St. Mary’s, a small town in western Alaska. A few days before, Peltola took five hunters, a guide, and their gear from the Holy Cross village to an airstrip at St. Mary’s. It was about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Holy Cross, and the group set up camp next to the runway. The area was rocky.
The NTSB said that the group got a moose the day before the crash and used satellite phones to make plans for Peltola to move the meat. Peltola had already picked up a load of meat the day of the crash and was going back for another. The government said he didn’t use scales to check the weight of the goods.
The agency had earlier said that two hunters were at the scene of the crash and helped Peltola. The agency said Peltola died of his wounds in about two hours.
“Because the accident site was about 400 miles from a hospital and could only be reached by air, it was not possible to get the pilot medical care right away after the accident,” Tuesday’s report says.
The agency said that putting antlers on the outside of an airplane is normal in Alaska, but it needs to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and noted in the plane’s logbooks. “There was no proof that such permission had been given for the accident plane,” the report says.
Peltola was the regional head for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska for many years. He also worked for many years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An FAA record shows that he had to wear corrective lenses at all times when he had his commercial pilot’s license in 2004.
His death happened almost exactly one year after a special election for the post and the swearing-in of Mary Peltola as Alaska’s only U.S. Representative. Mary Peltola, who is Yup’ik, was the first person from Alaska to be elected to Congress.
When she ran for office again in November 2022, she lost her bid for a full two-year term. Since then, she hasn’t been seen by many people.
