Piper PA-32-301 accident near Port Heiden, Alaska, December 14, 2006

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The commercial pilot departed on a Title 14, CFR Part 135, scheduled passenger flight, returning from a remote coastal village during dark night conditions. The pilot's intended flight route was over remote and unpopulated terrain, with no ground based light sources to provide visual cues. The flight was originally scheduled to depart during daylight hours, but poor weather conditions contributed to its late departure. When the flight did not arrive at its destination, an aerial search was initiated. The airplane's fragmented wreckage was along the pilot's intended route, about 15 miles northeast of the departure airport. The airplane had collided with flat, featureless, snow-covered, terrain. The debris trail measured about 575 feet long. Responding aviation rescue crews reported that due to dark night conditions, along with absence of ground based light sources and the lack of visual cues in the area of the accident site, the use of night vision goggles (NVG) was required to discern topographical features. All of the airplane's major components were located at the main wreckage site, and no preaccident anomalies were noted with the accident airplane. A postaccident review of the pilot's personal flight logbook revealed that the pilot had logged about 322 hours of flight time at night, and all but 32.6 flight hours had been accrued while acting as second-in-command.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.