Elmendorf - King Salmon

On February 10, 1977 at 12:00 AM, Elmendorf - King Salmon experienced a crash involving Beechcraft U-21 Ute, operated by United States Army, with the event recorded near Cook Inlet Alaska.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

7 people were known to be on board, 7 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 5, passenger fatalities: 5, other fatalities: 0.

Few minutes after takeoff from Elmendorf AFB, while cruising in IMC conditions, the crew contacted ATC and requested the permission to obtain a higher level of flight. Shortly later, the airplane went out of control and crashed in the Cook Inlet. Intensive SAR operations were conducted but no trace of the airplane nor the seven occupants was ever found. Crew: Cpt Donald W. Deeter, pilot, CW3 Ralph G. Battle, pilot, Passengers: SP4 Paul E. Jones, Ltc William I. Barrett Jr., Ltc John S. Edge, Maj James W. Nelson, Maj Melvin J. Swiney.

Aircraft reference details include registration 67-18081, MSN LM-81, year of manufacture 1967.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 58.9419°, -153.1856°.