Pilot and 3 passengers killed in crash of Yute Commuter Service plane near St. Mary’s

A plane carrying three passengers from Bethel to the village of St. Mary’s crashed Sunday night in a remote area within a mile of the runway, killing all four men aboard.

The Cessna 207 was operated by Yute Commuter Service and was carrying people affiliated with the company rather than charter or scheduled passengers, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency investigating the crash.

The person flying the plane was an off-duty Yute pilot, accompanied by a Yute employee, a former employee and another person on a personal trip, according to a statement from the company’s managers.

“All of us at Yute are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families of the four individuals involved,” the company said.

The group was going moose hunting and left Bethel on the private flight to St. Mary’s around 8:30 p.m. or 9 p.m. Sunday, Johnson said.

But before it arrived, the pilot requested and got permission for a “Special VFR” or Visual Flight Rules clearance, he said. Generally, the practice allows pilots to land in deteriorating weather conditions under a national policy that’s far more common in Alaska than other states.

The plane crashed about a half mile from the runway at St. Mary’s just after 10 p.m. Sunday, Johnson said. “They did not make the airport.”

National Weather Service observations at St. Mary’s Airport on Sunday just before 10 p.m. included overcast skies at 300 feet, 15 mph winds, light rain and fog or mist, and 2.5 miles of visibility that dropped to 2 miles an hour later. At Bethel, conditions included 18 mph wind gusting to 30 and 5 miles of visibility.

It was also getting dark: sunset in St. Mary’s on Sunday was just before 9:15 p.m.

The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center contacted the Alaska State Troopers about an overdue aircraft near St. Mary’s at about 11:15 p.m., troopers said in an online dispatch Monday. Troopers based in the village responded to the plane’s last known location and found the wreckage, they said.

Wildlife Troopers and officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped move the men’s bodies to a road for transport to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy, troopers said.

The Yute office in Bethel was closed on Monday.

Yute operates flights throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, providing scheduled passenger and cargo service as well as charters. provide scheduled passenger and cargo service as well as charters.

The company has been involved in several crashes in recent years, including one near Tuntutuliak in 2020 that left five dead and also involved a special visual rules clearance.

Paklook Air Inc. does business as Yute Commuter Service. Paklook is owned by Michael “Wade” Renfro and Jacqueline Renfro, according to state corporation records. Wade Renfro owned the plane involved in Sunday night’s crash, officials said.

It was the third fatal Alaska plane crash in three days. Two men died Friday in a crash on the Kenai Peninsula near Tustumena Lake. On Saturday, a 71-year-old Anchorage man died when his modified experimental plane crashed on a road near Wasilla.

Another recent fatal crash of a helicopter near King Salmon also involved visual flight clearance. A Louisiana man died in the Sept. 7 crash after the Jet Ranger carrying four passengers on a fishing trip left the King Salmon airport and crashed into the Naknek River, about a quarter mile from the airport.

The helicopter operated by Egli Air Haul departed in foggy weather under Special VFR conditions, officials said at the time.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Paklook Air Inc. as the parent company of Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures. Paklook does not own Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported it was the third fatal plane crash in Alaska in four days. It was the third fatal crash in three days.