'Severe Icing' Could Be to Blame for Alaska Plane Crash That Killed 10, Expert Says (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

The remains of Bering Air Flight 445 after it crashed in Alaska.Photo:Alaska U.S. Coast Guard/X

Alaska U.S. Coast Guard/X

Officials are still investigating what caused a small commuter planeto crash out of the sky over Alaska last week, killing all 10 people aboard.

But Joel Natwick, a longtime pilot in the state, thinks ice could be to blame.

“It would appear that he [the pilot] got into an icing situation that the plane could not handle, or he was low to the ground, not knowing how close he was to it because the visibility was so bad, and just hit the ice,” Natwick tells PEOPLE. “I think he had his hands full with a heavy airplane and severe icing conditions.”

However, he notes the plane, a single-engine Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, has “a very robust anti-ice system.”

Natwick has found himself in really bad icing conditions before and says “I never would have chosen to fly into those conditions, but it happens.”

He says if a pilot finds themselves in those situations, “You have to keep your speed way up as you’re approaching the airport because the plane doesn’t want to fly at slow speeds when it’s full of ice.”

Natwick adds that in western Alaska, planes provide common transportation for residents.

“An airplane out [there] is a school bus, it’s a truck, it’s an ambulance, it’s a taxi,” he says. “You can’t wait for blue sky and sunshine or you’ll never get anything done.”

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Joel Natwick’s son, Micah, flies the same type of plane that crashed near Nome, Alaska.Courtesy of Joel Natwick

Courtesy of Joel Natwick

Joel Natwick.Courtesy of Joel Natwick

The Bering Air flightwas bound for Nome, Alaska, on Feb. 6and was about 12 miles offshore when it was reported missing, authorities have said.

Debris from the plane was found the next day. The victims,all Alaska residents, were between the ages of 30 and 58.

Before crashing, the plane experienced “a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed,” the U.S. Coast Guard has told reporters. It’s unclear why this happened.

Natwick, the pilot, knows relatives of some of the people who died in the crash but says that’s not unusual in a state large in area but close in community.

“The pilot community is saddened and stunned,” he says.

Natwick says until the National Transportation Safety Board comes out with a final conclusion, no one will know for sure what brought down the plane. But icing could be a major factor, based on his experience.

Micah Natwick.Courtesy of Joel Natwick

His son Micah flies the exact same plane for another company in southwest Alaska. He says pilots like his son make choices every day about how much they feel is safe to handle, because conditions are never perfect.

“You can’t really always predict what kind of icing it’s going to be,” Micah Natwick explains to PEOPLE. “It’s not like a weather forecast. You can’t really get a good icing forecast all the time.”

Micah adds that during some flights, he has taken off and felt the icing was coming on faster than expected. In those cases, he made the decision to turn around.

But the Bering Air pilot was only about 34 miles from his landing destination — so most likely decided to stay the course.

“I don’t know if this pilot all of a sudden found himself in a cell of freezing rain or not,” says Joel Natwick. “But it isn’t uncommon for pilots to choose to fly in these kinds of conditions because they’ve done it so many times and the airplanes are equipped to handle icing conditions.’’

He says no one is judging the pilot, who made an educated choice.

What happened after that won’t be known until the NTSB issues its conclusions.

“It’s not like in the lower 48 [states], if this guy had gotten into icing and was getting into a bad situation, more than likely there’s an airport within five minutes of his flight that he could just drop down and land,” Joel says. “It’s not that way west of the Alaska range. So decision-making is a little different, maybe, and the risks are higher.”

source: people.com