One Dies in Crash of Experimental Plane in Alaska

The plane, a single-engine, home-built aircraft known as a HiperBipe, crashed into the woods just after taking off from an airstrip near Wolf Lake. Fire completely consumed the plane and the pilot inside.

Clint Johnson, an NTSB air safety investigator, said witnesses saw the plane take off from the airstrip and roll right until it was completely inverted at 150-200 feet. The plane then crashed nose-first into the trees, he said.

The pilot, the only person in the plane, could not be identified at the scene. The body was transported to the state medical examiner's office.

``Identification will have to be made through dental records,'' said Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson.

Acting state medical examiner Dr. Franc Fallico did not return a call made to his office.

Troopers say the victim is believed to be a 43-year-old Wasilla employee of the company that built the plane from a kit for a private owner.

A vehicle belonging to the man was next to the plane's hangar. Wilkinson said the man had told people he was going to the hangar that morning to check on the plane.

Troopers said the man who died in the crash had been logging flight time in the experimental plane.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, Johnson said.

``It's a real tough one because of the extent of the fire, there's not a lot of evidence left to be able to look at,'' he said.

He said the plane, built by Wick Air of Palmer, was the first of its type he had investigated in a crash.

Firefighters extinguished a small wildland fire caused by the crash.

The crash was the fourth fatal small plane accident in Alaska in just over a month.

Just three days before the crash Wednesday, two people died in a single-engine plane crash in Resurrection Bay in Seward. On July 30, four people died when their plane apparently stalled about 70 miles southwest of Anchorage. And on July 16, a flightseeing plane crashed north of Willow, killing a family on board.

Federal Aviation Authority spokeswoman Joette Storm said there have been 13 plane fatalities in Alaska so far this year, compared to 29 for all of 2003.

``Typically the summer months and the hunting season are when we see a spike in the number of accidents,'' she said.

The NTSB is continuing its investigation, Johnson said.