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Plane CrashesVersion 2

One Dead in Piper PA-20 Crash Near Cordova, Alaska

The NTSB accident record lists the aircraft as destroyed and one person aboard; the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 10:39 a.m. ET
One person was killed when a Piper PA-20 was destroyed near Cordova, Alaska, on June 18, 2026, at about 8:00 p.m. local time, according to the National Transportation Safety Board accident record. The investigation is open and this account reflects an early stage of it. The accident record lists one person aboard and one fatality, and classifies the flight as a Part 91 general aviation flight. The record identifies the aircraft as and lists the operator as . The cause has not been determined; the NTSB is investigating. Aircraft registry records describe as a Piper PA-20, a single-engine piston landplane with a Lycoming O-320 series engine, serial number 20-454, built in 1950 and 76 years old at the time of the crash. The registry lists the registered owner as Grimes John A; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight. Geographic reference data places Cordova in Alaska's Unorganized Borough at a settlement elevation of 33 feet, 1.1 miles east of Cordova Municipal Airport and 10 miles ESE of Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport; the reference locates the town, not the accident site. Weather observations recorded at Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Airport, 10.2 miles away and seven minutes from the reported time, show wind from 210 degrees at 5 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, scattered cloud at 1,400 feet and a temperature of 53°F. The observation is an instrument reading and is not a stated cause. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 23 other cases involving the Piper PA-20, of which one involved a fatality. The same airframe appears in one prior NTSB case, LAX08CA255, at Grass Valley, California, on August 3, 2008. Neither the type count nor the earlier case says anything about the cause of this accident.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N7635K
Type
Piper PA-20 — single-engine piston landplane
Engines
LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES
Built
1950-01-01 (76 years old)
Registered owner
Grimes John AThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
33 ft
Nearest aerodrome
1.1 miles W of Cordova Municipal Airport (CKU/CKU)

Sources

No sources recorded.

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 14:39current

    Corrected the bearings between Cordova and the two nearby airports and clarified that the geographic reference locates the settlement rather than the accident site.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 15:35

    First published.

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