ANCHORAGE — Former state Rep. Mike Kelly was testing recently installed equipment on his small plane when he crashed in Alaska’s interior, killing the longtime Fairbanks resident, according to a federal accident report.
The preliminary report is among three released Monday night by the National Transportation Safety Board on recent fatal plane crashes in Alaska, KTUU-TV reported Tuesday.
Kelly was the only person on board the Bellanca Citabria 7GCBC on Dec. 7 when it crashed 17 miles south of Fairbanks. Army helicopter crews later heard a faint emergency beacon, and soldiers found Kelly dead. Kelly is named in the report as the operator of the aircraft.
The NTSB says a maintenance technician recently worked on the aircraft that Kelly was flying said the former lawmaker was performing a post-maintenance test flight for recently installed generators. Also recently installed were new skis, alternator and throttle cable, according to the report, which said the plane was flying without a transponder, which had been removed for repair.
Earlier on Dec. 7, a small plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Port Alsworth with four locals on board. Searchers found personal items floating in Lake Clark the next day.
Those on board the single-engine Piper PA-28 have been identified as the pilot, Lyle Longerbeam, and his passengers, Scott Blom and his teenage children, Kaitlyn Blom and Zach Blom.
The NTSB says reduced visibility conditions had been reported along the anticipated route of the flight, and there also was ice fog over Lake Clark. Another pilot in the area said Longerbeam told him shortly after the Piper took off that things were “looking good under here, I’m gonna keep going” in the last transmission from the aircraft.
The official search for the wreckage was suspended several days later. But family, friends and others continued to look for it.
On Thursday, two Aniak residents died when their small plane crashed Thursday south of the village. The two have been identified as 62-year-old pilot Mark Matter and 63-year-old passenger Cecilia Matter. The Piper PA-11 was found at the 2,000-foot level of the southwest side of Marvel Dome, according to the NTSB.
