Three of 20 Alaska aviation accidents since July 19 were fatal

Twenty aircraft have crashed in Alaska since July 19, three of them fatally, the National Transportation Safety Board reports.

The fatal crashes were at Chitina on July 27, with three people aboard, Cape Newenham on Aug. 20, with eight, and Seldovia on Aug. 26, with four. No cause has been determined. The board has published preliminary reports, which say what investigators found but not why.

Seven of the 20 killed no one: Nondalton on July 19, Bettles on Aug. 18, Beluga on Aug. 29, Cordova on Aug. 30, Arctic Village on Aug. 31, Copper Center on Sept. 1 and Ninilchik on Sept. 11. Two people aboard a Cessna 180A, registration N5399D, were hurt at Cordova, the board's case ANC26LA094. One aboard a Cessna 180J, N9949N, was hurt at Bettles. No one on the ground was injured in any of the accidents.

The FAA's Don Young Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative cites a 2020 NTSB finding that Alaska's accident rate from 2008 to 2017 ran 2.35 times the rate for the rest of the United States, with fatal accidents at 1.34 times.