The pilot in last month’s fatal plane crash attempted to land with a tailwind on runway 16, or south-southeast at the Seldovia Airport, in the opposite direction of other airplanes that landed that day. The Piper PA-24 plane appeared to be coming in fast, according to witnesses who saw the crash. Multiple witnesses reported the plane flew unusually low to the ground, with the engine being very loud and the airplane hitting a tree before descending into Seldovia Slough.

Those are some of the findings in a preliminary investigation report the National Transportation Safety Board released last week for the Aug. 26 plane crash in Seldovia. Investigators have not yet identified the cause of the crash; the report says a detailed examination of the wreckage is pending.

NTSB media officers said the investigation can take 12 to 24 months to complete.Three passengers and the pilot died when the plane crashed at 1:17 p.m. and sank in the Seldovia Slough. The passengers, all three from California, were identified as Ronald Schmidt, 65, Lance Schmidt, 20, and Daniel Simons, 82. The pilot was identified as Eric Middlebrook, 68, from Alaska.

One airport witness, working with heavy equipment near the end of runway 16, said the airplane was unusually low to the ground just past the end of the runway.

Another heard a series of “hard and abnormal” bounces that were not normal touchdown sounds. He saw the plane bounce a third time and believed the nosewheel hit the ground first, the report says. He then heard the engine go to full throttle and said the plane “pitched up very high and possibly had a tail strike.”

The airplane came to rest about 2,200 feet from the end of runway 16, the report says. The airport’s Automated Surface Observing System weather station at the time of the accident reported wind from the north-northeast at 5 knots with gusts at 9 knots.




Runway 16 is the 161° magnetic heading end of the 16/34 runway in Seldovia, meaning airplanes would land heading south-southeast approaching from Cook Inlet. Runway 34 is the 341° magnetic heading end of the runway, meaning airplanes would land heading north-northwest and approaching from the slough. With the wind from the north-northeast, that means the Piper plane attempted to land with a tailwind.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s chart supplement for the Seldovia Airport notes the 1,845-foot gravel runway has about 160-foot trees about 1,700 feet from runway 16 and 110 feet left of the centerline. For runway 34, the supplement notes an 89-foot tree 995 feet from the runway, and a 140-foot tree right of the centerline.

Find the full report in the NTSB Aviation Investigation Search database.