U.S. investigators say Alaska plane was overweight for icy conditions in crash that killed 10

Alaska plane crash kills 10, NTSB investigates weight, icing conditions, and altitude as possible factors in tragedy.

A commuter plane that crashed on sea ice off Alaska, killing all 10 people on board, was half a ton overweight for a trip into icy conditions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released Wednesday (March 19, 2025).

The weight is just a “data point" in the ongoing investigation, cautioned Clint Johnson, who runs the NTSB's Alaska region. A final report including probable causes can take a year or more after a crash.

The Feb 6. Bering Air crash was one of Alaska's deadliest plane crashes this century and the third major U.S. aviation mishap in an eight-day stretch. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing all six on board and another person on the ground.

Small airplanes like the Cessna Caravan in this crash are the workhorses of Alaska, where most of the state’s 200-plus villages are beyond the road system and only accessible by air or boat. Residents rely on the commuter planes like people living in the Lower 48 depend on cars, using them to get to medical appointments and meetings, to go shopping, to visit relatives or to attend away high school sports games.

The single-engine turboprop plane was flying that afternoon from the community of Unalakleet to Nome, a trip of about 150 miles (240 kilometers), when authorities lost contact less than an hour after takeoff, David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, said at the time. The Cessna Caravan went missing about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from its destination.

A review of the plane’s contents following the crash indicated its estimated gross weight at departure was about 9,865 pounds (4475 kilograms) — about 1,058 pounds (480 kilograms) over the maximum takeoff gross weight for a flight into areas where icing is in the forecast, the report says. The pilot operating handbook notes the maximum allowable takeoff gross weight for a flight into such conditions was the same as the basic airplane, 8,807 pounds (3995 kilograms).

Johnson said it remains to be determined whether the overweight conditions were a factor in the accident. Icing conditions were forecast along the route, and it was snowing, with some freezing rain in Nome, he said. Officials are trying to determine what information was relayed to the pilot, what information he had when he left and whether ice conditions existed at the crash location, he said.