Moose meat and antlers caused Alaska plane crash: report

Los Angeles: Too muchMoosemeat and a set of antlers strapped to a wing brought a small plane down in Alaska, killing its pilot, according to a crash r...

Los Angeles: Too much Moose meat and a set of antlers strapped to a wing brought a small plane down in Alaska, killing its pilot, according to a crash report published last week.

Eugene Peltola died hours after his aircraft -- carrying over 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of Moose meat -- plunged into mountains near St Mary's in southwest Alaska in September 2023.

A report released Tuesday by the US National Transportation Safety Board found the hefty meat cargo meant the plane was more than 100 pounds over its takeoff weight when it left a remote airstrip in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

The presence of a pair of Moose antlers on the right wing strut of the plane -- a common practice in Alaska -- would likely have made flight even trickier, the report said, because of their effect on aerodynamics.

Clint Johnson, the Alaska Region Chief for NTSB, was cited by local media as saying there were three main factors that contributed to the crash of the Piper PA 18-150 Super Cub.