The flight following system of chartered Bell 206L-4 helicopter involved in a fatal crash near Wainwright, Alaska, stopped transmitting data as it passed over the shoreline of a large inland lake, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Four people died in the incident on July 20, 2023, including the pilot and three passengers. The helicopter was owned and operated by Maritime Helicopters of Homer, Alaska, and was under contract to the State of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, the NTSB said.
Pilot Bernard “Tony” Higdon, 48, of North Pole, Alaska, died in the crash. He was transporting three scientists at the time: Permafrost expert Ronald Daanen, 51, a native of the Netherlands living in Fairbanks; Justin Germann, 27, a native of North Dakota also living in Fairbanks; and recent University of Indiana graduate Tori Moore, 26, of South Bend, Indiana.
Officials said under the contract, the aircraft transported scientific crews to “various remote locations” in Alaska’s North Slope region, which runs from the Canadian border to the U.S. maritime boundary with Russia in the west, and is bounded by the Beaufort Sea in the north.
The helicopter was equipped with a Honeywell Sky Connect Tracker system with real-time, flight following capabilities, the NTSB said. This system broadcast flight status data in three-minute intervals to satellite-based receivers.
NTSB investigators said the Sky Connect data ended as the helicopter passed over the southeastern shoreline of Lake Itinik, while continuing to travel in a northwesterly direction, at an altitude of 144 feet (44 meters) above mean sea level, with a ground speed of 93 knots (172 kilometers per hour).
“The terrain around Lake Itinik consists of flat, featureless, arctic tundra-covered terrain,” the report stated. The lake’s elevation is reportedly 56 ft. (17 m) above mean sea level.
Investigators said the aircraft was destroyed in the incident but did not explode or catch fire. Its wreckage was found July 30 on the shoreline of Lake Itinik and was transported to Utqiagvik the same day, per the NTSB report.
After an initial post-accident wreckage examination in Utqiagvik, authorities transported the wreckage to Anchorage, the report stated. Additional detailed wreckage examinations are pending.
Investigators have yet to say what may have caused the crash.
