John Landsiedel Obituary, Death; – The pilot of a small plane died after crashing the aircraft on a runway Friday morning in Alaska, according to authorities.
Alaska State Troopers identified the pilot as 33-year-old John Landsiedel, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who worked in the small Southwest Alaska community.
The department said troopers arrived at the Dillingham Airport to find a Piper J3C-65 Cub had crashed on the airport’s runway just before 9:15 a.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said only Landsiedel was on board. He was declared dead at the scene after the crash.
Preliminary information suggests that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska Region Chief for the NTSB.
Johnson said the plane’s registration number is currently under the name of an individual who was not on the plane at the time of the crash.
“The registered owner, right now, was not the one that was on board,” Johnson said.
While online registration records currently tie the aircraft to a state trooper, Austin McDaniel, a communications director for the Department of Public Safety, emphasized that the plane is not owned by any Department of Public Safety employee as of now, refuting rumors circulating on social media.
“The involved aircraft is not owned by an Alaska State Trooper or an Alaska Department of Public Safety employee, nor was a State Trooper or DPS employee involved in the collision,” McDaniel wrote.
The listed registrant at the time of the crash is also not a current state trooper, McDaniel said in a follow-up email.
Notably, registration changes can take several weeks to be reflected in online databases.
Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang released a statement touching on the loss of Landsiedel.
“There are no words to describe the impact this has on his family, friends, and ADF&G with the loss of one of our own,” Vincent-Lang said. “Our deepest condolences are with John’s family and loved ones.”
McDaniel also said investigators are still working to le
