The husband of Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola was ferrying more than 500 pounds of moose and antlers from a remote hunting camp in Alaska when his small plane crashed shortly after takeoff earlier this month, officials said.
Eugene Peltola Jr., 57, the sole person aboard the Piper PA-18, was found conscious but died at the scene after it crashed Sept. 12 near the village of St. Mary’s, some 500 miles west of Fairbanks, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its initial report Thursday.
Two days before the crash, Peltola took five hunters, a guide and equipment from Holy Cross to a site about 80 miles northwest of the community, where they set up camp next to a landing strip.
The hunters caught a moose and messaged Peltola via satellite to fly it back to Holy Cross the following day, when he picked up one load of meat and then returned for a second, according to the report.
One of the hunters estimated there were 50 to 70 more pounds of meat in the second than the first. The total load for the second trip was about 520 pounds, according to the NTSB.
Peltola, who strapped antlers to the right wing strut, was told the wind gusts that day were stronger at the departure end of the airstrip, the report states.
“The meat was strapped into the rear passenger seat area with both the seatbelt and rope and was loaded into the airplane’s belly pod, which did not have tie-down provisions,” the NTSB said.
“The hunters noticed that the ground roll was slightly longer than before, and that the airplane appeared to be more ‘labored’ than during the previous flight,” according to the agency.
“They stated that, as the airplane reached the end of the airstrip, it pitched up and turned sharply to the right but, rather than climbing as before, the airplane flew behind the adjacent ridgeline and out of view,” the report said.
After the plane crashed, one of the hunters found him still conscious and activated an SOS feature on his satellite device. But Peltola succumbed to his injuries within two hours of the accident.
One of the hunters captured a video of the ill-fated takeoff but not the impact, the NTSB said.
Peltola, also known as “Buzzy,” was Mary’s third spouse and was at her side in 2022 when she edged out Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin to become the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives.
He served as Alaska regional director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 2017 to 2022 after a three-decade long career in the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
A final report with probable cause findings could take up to two years, the NTSB said.