A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report released Thursday determined that a history of overweight flights and inadequate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight contributed to a February 2025 commuter plane crash off Alaska that killed all 10 people on board. The NTSB also found the pilot did not monitor and maintain adequate airspeed, likely due to efforts to manage the plane's ice protection system during an approach to Nome.
The crash, which involved a Bering Air Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, occurred approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome while the plane was en route from Unalakleet. The wreckage was later recovered from a drifting ice floe. The NTSB report highlighted that the plane was overweight for travel into icy conditions, and the Nome airport had temporarily closed its runways for de-icing at the time of the incident.
Investigators found a pattern of underreported weights on Bering Air flight manifests and instances of flights operating above weight limits. The FAA's oversight of the company was deemed insufficient, with the agency failing to recognize Bering Air's increased operational complexity and rapid growth following the pandemic and the bankruptcy of a competitor as factors warranting closer scrutiny.
"The tragedy was not the result of a single failure, but a series of preventable breakdowns that eroded critical safety margins," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy stated. The report suggested that the FAA's oversight did not identify or address the routine operation of overweight flights.
In response to the findings, the FAA stated that it "takes NTSB recommendations seriously and will carefully review them." The NTSB has made several recommendations to the FAA, including calls for enhanced pilot training for charter and air taxi operators on preventing and recovering from loss of control in flight. The board also reiterated prior recommendations, such as the expanded use of flight data monitoring programs and broader requirements for load manifests.
Bering Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The February 2025 crash was one of the deadliest plane crashes in Alaska this century.
