Investigators: Big Lake pilot’s plane was overloaded

MAT-SU — A report released from the National Transportation Safety Board says a Super Cub that crashed near Rohn last year may have been overloaded.

The Super Cub, with well-known Big Lake resident Scott Mueller at the controls, went down in the trees just east of the runway at the Tatina Airport on Aug. 30, 2013. Mueller and his nephew, Traeger Anderson, were onboard the plane at the time. They’d been part of a larger party hunting caribou. Mueller, 58, died in the crash. Anderson, now 31, survived.

“On the day of the accident, the pilot had completed multiple trips shuttling the passengers, caribou meat and hunting gear from a remote hunting location to the Tatitna Airport,” according to the NTSB report, released March 20.

Anderson talked to investigators, saying it was clear pretty soon after takeoff that something was wrong.

“Once above the treetops they initiated a left turn, when he heard the pilot start to swear and say, ‘I should have taken off the other way.’ Realizing they were going to crash, he shut his eyes and put his hands up to protect his face,” the report says. “He had no recollection of the accident sequence.”

The report is what the NTSB calls a “factual report” — which is a few steps short of what it calls a “probable cause” report. That means investigators have not officially indicated the cause of the crash. But there is one major area where they seemed to have focused — the weight onboard the plane.

Investigators estimate that together, the two men weighed 450 pounds. They had 500 pounds of caribou, 216 pounds of fuel and 38 pounds of oil, guns and antlers. The plane weighed 1,188.25 pounds.

“The gross weight of the airplane at the time of the accident was conservatively estimated to be 2,392.25 pounds, or 642.25 pounds over the approved maximum takeoff gross weight for the airplane,” the report states.

The report also points to another potential problem — “external loads.” The plane had a rifle strapped to one wing strut and antlers strapped to another.

“The (FAA) has developed a list of suggestions when carrying external loads on fixed-wing airplanes, the suggestions state in part (that) it has been reported that on some aircraft, antlers secured to the wing struts can cause a significant air flow disturbance to the tail surfaces,” the report states.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.