Prayers to the family.


Note: This story is likely to be updated several times in the coming hours as information becomes available.

The National Transportation Safety Board is responding to a plane crash in Western Alaska, in the area of Shaktoolik and Unalakleet. Troopers are en route to the site but as of this writing have not reached it.

Reports from pilots in the area say two souls were on board — the pilot, Jim Tweto, and a bear hunting guide. Tweto, who is from the Unalakleet flying community, is a very experienced bush pilot and typically flies a Cessna 180 or 207.

A helicopter from Bering Air was en route to the scene, sources say. The pilot community is not optimistic about the fate of the two on board, based on reports.

“NTSB investigating the crash of a Cessna 180H airplane near Unalakleet, Alaska,” is the terse statement on Twitter from the federal agency in charge of aviation incidents.

Tweto was featured on Flying Wild Alaska, a Discovery show that finished its last season 12 years ago. He was born in Kansas, raised in Minnesota, and made his way to Alaska at age 18 with a hockey scholarship to University of Alaska Anchorage. He settled in Unalakleet, where he married Ferno Tweto.

In 1990, the Twetos’ flying company merged with Hageland Aviation, which merged with with Era Alaska in 2008. Jim became the chief operating officer of Era when they merged with Frontier Flying Service in 2009 and became a major regional air carrier in Alaska. A community leader in the region, Tweto is a household name in Western Alaska.

“He has helped so many people out in good times and bad, he was just that kind of guy,” said one source who asked to remain anonymous. “He was a highly respected and generous man.”

Another source said, “He was a good guy,” adding that the aviation community is close knit, and in shock.

https://mustreadalaska.com/jim-tweto-legendary-alaska-bush-pilot-believed-to-be-in-cessna-that-went-down-in-western-alaska/

Damn, at least he died what he loved to do.

Dang, that sucks.

It doesn’t matter how good you are, or how many hours you have, all it takes is one mistake or shit decision.

I say that as a fallible human who makes mistakes and shit decisions from time to time.

Flying is always dangerous. RIP.

Alaska is incredibly unforgiving on well……anything. But especially flying.

23 years a pilot and I’ll admit I’m a bitch compared to what those dudes will do.

That's terrible news.

Im in western alaska now. I take 20-30 flights in and out of the villages all season.  Its never far from my mind how really fragile and delicate their dance is, or how one mistake can end it all.

Damn I really enjoyed watching that show

Damn, RIP Jim, you seemed like a great guy.

I enjoyed the show and Ariel Tweto is a hottie.

Jim seemed like a good dude. I've only taken one bush flight in a beaver but the quick safety run down of "if we go down you do this and this and here is the fuel shut off" made the fight more interesting. I was in the right front seat.

In 2016 the NTSB did a documentary on all the plane crash investigations they did in Alaska that year. Mostly small Cessnas. Really an eye opener to the conditions they fly in and just how many crashes happen each year.

here it is:
https://imdb.com/title/tt5571102/

Ground school for my first 135 job in Alaska was two weeks long. The first 5 days were nothing but PowerPoints of “don’t do this…click…it will kill you.”

Tailwinds and glassy water, Jim.

Not a lot of IFR flying in AK…Condolences to the family.

For the record BearGuide is still alive.

RIP

I always hated that guy's wife, Ferno. I've been in and out of Unalacleet more times than I can count. I used to see Jim's 180 tied down in the same spot but never once saw him or it flying. But I dealt with his wife plenty. *shudder the thought*

That's a relief and I'm certain Jim would be extremely relieved as well. I could always grasp the concept of personally dying in a plane I was piloting. But the thought of killing a passenger would've always been far worse.

A passenger did die, but it wasn’t me, as the title suggests.

Did you mean VFR?

No, Sir.

Or mechanical, airframe failure, or random act of nature.

But, like others have said, better to go out while doing what you love than slowly rotting in a nursing home in your old age.

Sorry to hear that. I used to watch that show and really enjoyed it. I thought Airiel Tweto was too cute.

Oh, shit! Oops! I'm obviously a bit slow. Thought you were saying the passenger was a bear hunting guide (which he might've been, I suppose.)

Anyway... Gotcha now. Glad you're okay!

Totally agree

Look at the Dale Snodgrass crash, 1000's of hours in fighters. And simply forgetting to remove a yoke locking device in his POA, killed him.

RIP Jim

Will be reading the NTSB report on this one.

That's a rough one.

Was just reading the passenger (Shane Reynolds) was from Orifino  Idaho. And a well know hunting/fishing guide in the PNW.

“Yoke”.

I always thought he was a good guy and I really liked Ariel on the show. Cute personality.

Enjoyed his show.

Quite a bit of ifr flying is done.

Most villages have the equipment now.


Ifr use to stand for "I follow River" in the old days.
Pilots use to watch or ask the passengers for hints on the runways/villages.

I used to just watch the passengers heads and just turn whichever way they were looking. Fly straight when all the heads look forward. When I hear “where yer goin” I knew I just overflew the village.

They might have the equipment but they still don't have the radar coverage. To fly IFR without radar contact is a tremendous pain in the ass and a giant time waster.

The world is a lesser place today.

Same Thought I had right away, we should all be so lucky.

Flying small planes in Alaska is way different than L48.

There is very little radar coverage in Bush Alaska. Only the Bush hubs have radar and it is limited.

Planes have been flying Ifr without it for years.

Capstone has made a difference but has made for some lazy pilots.


People,groceries,freight and medivacs would back up emmensly without being able to fly ifr. They do limit ifr flying if it is really bad.

Aww shit   this makes me sad seriously..  .damn  

Oh, they fly plenty of ‘IMC’, just not much ‘IFR’…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/flying-wild-alaska-jim-tweto-dead-plane-crash

A little more info

Snip
People reportedly saw the airplane take off, but it failed to climb to altitude before crashing.

[dt

They do fly ifr to villages that have the instruments for it.

State has very slowly been upgrading the runways.

Quoted:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/flying-wild-alaska-jim-tweto-dead-plane-crash

A little more info

Snip
People reportedly saw the airplane take off, but it failed to climb to altitude before crashing.[/quote

Not a pilot...but based on description of the crash, sounds like it could just have been mechanical failure. Lots of places where if something goes bad just after takeoff, you're hitting trees...and that just becomes a matter of sheer luck for survival, not skill.

That's very true , I am glad no one is questioning Twetos judgement or skill. He was very very good.   Out of the 5 bush pilots I flew with 2 are dead and  one crashed and quit . That's been in 20 plus years of them flying.
Dangerous business.

Eta I wasnt a hired pilot just the lowly guy they dropped off to take people out .

I used to fly for Cape Smythe. I lived and flew out of Barrow, Dead Horse, Kotz, and Nome and I've flown in and out of every village in NW Alaska that has a gravel strip. You might say I'm well versed in the difference between lower 48 flying and flying NW Alaska.

Flying medivac IFR from PAOM to PANC is considerably more practical than flying IFR from PAOM to PASH (as an example). I've flown both of these routes numerous times. The first flight required a void time clearance for takeoff then you'd check in with center at 10,000' and enjoy radar coverage the rest of the way into Anchorage. The Shish leg was fucking ridiculous to do IFR because you'd need the same void time clearance for takeoff and you might be seen on radar for 30 minutes enroute to Shish before you had to start back down. But in all likelihood, somebody else (a smarter pilot) is conducting a svfr approach under you which means center can't allow you to descend under radar coverage because they can't guarantee traffic separation because they can't see anything that's happening down there. So you have to hold and hold and hold and wait for that airspace to be free of all traffic before you're allowed to execute a full fucking approach with procedure turn and all and land with enough fuel to make it home plus IFR reserves. Then you realize that all you accomplished was flying a leg in 2 or 3 times the amount of time as you would've if you'd just taken off svfr, maintained cloud clearance enroute at 800' agl, snuck around the west side of the Sawtooth Mountains or even straight up through Mosquito Pass and flown an svfr (gpsbs) approach to land. Not only is IFR an enormous time waster but it also requires a lot more fuel which means lower payload.

You won't last long as a paid pilot in bush Alaska if you're only hauling 1500lb payloads in a B-99 instead of the more usual 2500lbs because you're flying around IFR everywhere requiring an extra 1000 lbs of fuel. You're not getting the job done doing that.

Yes, we flew over-gross regularly. We also flew vfr in imc damn near daily. You adapted. You learned to do it without getting killed or caught so that you could still be useful to your company and the communities you served. If you're flying in the clouds on a vfr flight plan and land in Nome covered with ice then you had to know the legal loopholes to explain how such a thing was possible to a probing fed. Freezing light drizzle was the usual excuse followed by a call to wxbrief to file a pirep for icing. That's how you didn't get busted.

Me and my plane...

They're not using ground based instruments. They'll usually have some kind of basic weather reporting at best. The rest is done by GPS.

He died crashing he loved flying
Lord willing he's flying with the angels now
And that the Lord over us all consoles his family and friends
RIP both men

Wasn't there a Discovery show about him and his family a few years back?   I seem to recall him having a quirky daughter.

Regardless, very sad for the family.

Flying Wild Alaska

It was pretty bad and was canceled after 1 season.

Started my flying career in Alaska as a bush pilot while in college.   It was a great experience, yet totally unforgiving.  I grew up in Anchorage so we expected losses every year.