Investigators release plane crash report

TALKEETNA — The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the mid-air plane crash that claimed four lives July 30.

The crash happened at 2:15 p.m. near Amber Lake, about 16 miles southwest of Talkeetna.

According to the report, a Cessna 180, which had just taken off from nearby Sister Lake and was coming for a landing, hit a Cessna 206 piloted by Kevin Earp of Eagle River, who was flying to Amber Lake from Anchorage.

The 180 received major damage, crashed and burned on impact. The 206 had damaged floats, but Earp managed to return to Anchorage and land without incident.

The plane that crashed was registered to Corey Carlson. Media reports indicate Carlson was the pilot and his wife and children were the passengers.

“The Cessna 180 collided with terrain in an uncontrolled vertical descent, and was consumed by a post-crash fire,” according to the report.

The report also addresses why the planes collided.

“During a conversations with the (NTSB) investigator-in-charge, (Earp) said he did not see the Cessna 180 coming from his right until the last seconds prior to the impact. He said he pulled his airplane up and left to avoid the collision,” according to the report.

Earp told investigators he assessed the damage to his plane and decided that Anchorage was his best bet for a place to land, since there would be more help for him there. He said he used his cellphone to call people on the ground and let them know of the downed Cessna 180.

The report was released Friday and is preliminary. Final reports often take months to produce.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.