VIDEO: The pilot of a small plane that crashed Friday morning on a Dillingham runway is dead, the Department of Public Safety confirmed to Alaskaโs News Source. Troopers identified the pilot as 33-year-old Dillingham resident John Landsiedel, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who worked in the small Southwest Alaska community. The department said Alaska State Troopers arrived to the Dillingham Airport to find a Piper J3C-65 Cub that had crashed on the airportโs runway just before 9:15 a.m. Friday. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), only the pilot was on board, who was declared dead at the scene after the crash.
Preliminary information suggests that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska Region Chief for the NTSB. Johnson added that the planeโs registration number is currently under the name of an individual who was not on the plane at the time of the crash. โThe registered owner, right now, was not the one that was on board,โ Johnson said. The Dillingham Police Department referred Alaskaโs News Source to DPS for additional information.
Austin McDaniel, a communications director for the agency, said in an email Friday afternoon that registration changes can take several weeks to be reflected in online databases. While online registration records currently tie the aircraft to a state trooper, he emphasized that the plane is not owned by any DPS employee as of now, refuting rumors circulating on social media. โThe involved aircraft is not owned by an Alaska State Trooper or an Alaska Department of Public Safety employee,โ McDaniel wrote, โnor was a State Trooper or DPS employee involved in the collision.โ
