Alaska plane crash kills three from the Bay Area and local pilot

Four people including three Californians were killed when a small plane crashed into shallow waters near a remote coastal town in Alaska.

State troopers identified the victims as pilot Eric Middlebrook, 68, of Anchorage, and three passengers from the Bay Area: Ronald Schmidt, 65, and Lance Schmidt, 20, both of San Jose, and Daniel Simons, 82, of Los Gatos.

The Piper PA-24 had taken off from Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage bound for the remote town of Seldovia, about 135 miles southwest, when it went down in the Seldovia Slough around 1:18 p.m. local time on Wednesday. The aircraft came to rest submerged in roughly 15 feet of water near the shore.

Middlebrook, a former mayor of Bethel and longtime pilot known for flying refrigeration equipment to remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages, was an experienced aviator who had lived in Alaska for decades. He was originally from Northern California.

Troopers had to wait for the tide to recede before they could reach the wreckage and recover the four bodies inside the plane, which have been sent to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy.

Dramatic video that has since emerged shows the submerged aircraft in the slough and later recovery efforts, including a helicopter lifting the wreckage from the water the following day.

Witnesses described hearing the plane and then seeing it go down, with one saying the aftermath left people in “terror” as they wondered whether anyone inside was still alive.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause. Preliminary information indicates the pilot may have been attempting an aborted landing or climb-out when the plane struck trees before crashing into the water.

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan called the crash “heartbreaking and unacceptable,” noting that aviation safety remains a top priority in the state.

The crash comes less than a week after another fatal plane accident in western Alaska killed eight people.

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