Alaska Plane Crash: 520 Pounds Moose Meat, Antlers Outweigh 70-Year-Old Piper

Moose meat overload grounds a 70-year-old Piper PA-18 in Alaska: NTSB confirms 520 pounds of meat and antlers—117 pounds over legal limit—led to the crash near St. Mary’s. Trending searches ask, “How much weight can a small plane carry?” and “Can you transport antlers by air?” The pilot, Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., received first aid from hunters but died shortly after. “The cause was the excess weight and the ‘unapproved external load’ of the antlers,” the report dryly notes.
The image of a 70-year-old airplane, almost none of its original parts intact, carrying a moose’s meat and its antlers like wings, reveals just how far FAA rules can bend. As Google users wonder, “What are dangerous aircraft loads?” and “Is it legal to hang antlers on a plane?” the NTSB confirms the antlers hadn’t been officially approved, despite Alaska’s unique allowances. The irony: only in Alaska could bureaucracy and wildlife collide in midair with such precision.
The Piper PA-18 carried 520 pounds—117 pounds above its maximum—plus a set of moose antlers lashed to its wing, a feat of airborne taxidermy that grounded aviation history.