One Person Fatally Injured In The Accident

Authorities are investigating a mid-air collision near the mouth of the Susitna River in south central Alaska that resulted in one fatal injury.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that the accident was first reported Wednesday at 12:13 local time, according to Alaska State Troopers. One of the aircraft sustained damage to its landing gear but landed safely at Lake Hood, while the other went down in the river.

The two aircraft were a Cessna 207, which went into the river, and a Cessna 175, according to the FAA's preliminary accident information. Cling Johnson, the Alaska chief of the NTSB, said authorities are "fairly certain" there was only one person on board the 207.

In a news conference at Lake Hood, Johnson said "Roughly about 20 minutes after noon (Wednesday), we were notified of an event that took place by the mouth of the Big Susitna River.

"Shortly after that, the airplane that's right behind me here made an emergency landing at the strip, and we just had a chance to talk to the pilot. It appears at this point right now that we do have a midair that took place in that area of the mouth of the Big Susitna," Johnson said.

That pilot told investigators that he had been returning to Anchorage from a remote fishing village when he "saw the airplane at the last moment, basically nose-to-nose." After the impact, the pilot said he couple of circles to try to determine the condition of his airplane and the one that went down.

FMI: Original report