Loved Ones Mourn Alaska Sportsman Killed In Plane Crash

Here’s Alaska Public Media with more on the tragic and sudden death of 39-year-old Derek Leichliter when the plane was piloting crashed:

He died Sunday afternoon when his plane he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff. He was the only person aboard and had been flying gear out to the remote Saltery Cove ahead of a five-day hunting trip. He was 39….

…Mohr said Leichliter was out on the Kenai River before work every day, all summer long. He recently started spending more time on the Kvichak River, in Bristol Bay. He’d fly his Wag-Aero 2+2 to Igiugig two to three times a week. He’d just retrofitted the plane six months ago with a new engine and wings, said Mohr.

Mohr said Leichliter was also an avid hunter and trapper. On their trip, Mohr said he planned to hunt for deer while Leichliter hunted bear, and then they would return to Soldotna on Thursday.

“Derek was in every other way, on top of the world,” Mohr said. “Happy, doing what he loved, his business was going well. Everything seemed to be going well for him. And this was going to be a trip we were looking forward to. It’s just really unfortunate that he was taken away right as everything was going so well.”