WASILLA, Alaska - A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board offers a few new details surrounding aOn Nov. 10 pilot Joshua Seagrave was flying a Piper PA-18 along the Matanuska River when his plane collided with an unmarked tram cable that ran across the partially frozen water.
Seagrave was working as a mechanic’s helper at Danchini Aero LLC, an aviation maintenance hangar located on Wolf Lake airstrip and operated by Junior Daniel.“I never saw it until I was over top of it looking down it,” Daniel said. “It blended into the environment around it.” While some have argued that Seagrave shouldn’t have been flying that low, his longtime friend Marty Rhett said there’s a lesson to be learned without pointing blame toward any one party.
Rhett met Seagrave in 2008 while going through the military freefall school and have remained friends since. He called Seagrave a high-energy, positive person who loved flying and Alaska.