[1][2][3] The aircraft, a single-engine de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter registered to GCI, crashed on a mountainside while on a flight between two fishing lodges.

[5][6] After it was reported that the aircraft had not landed as scheduled, other pilots launched a search and located the wreckage on a 40-degree slope in the mountainous Dillingham region.

[9] Local responders were on the mountain within a half hour of the airplane being located around 6:30 p.m. A doctor and emergency medical technicians were dropped off by helicopter the same day[10] and spent the night providing aid to crash survivors.

Early in the morning as the Alaska Air National Guard arrived at the scene, also by helicopter, the first responders assisted rescuers in navigating to the site with rain and fog in the area hampering rescue and recovery efforts.

A MH-60J Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on scene and deployed their rescue swimmer to the crash site to assist Air National Guard pararescuemen in extricating and treating patients for transport to medical care.

[17] Among the survivors were former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and his 19-year-old son Kevin, both of whom sustained non-life-threatening injuries but were listed in critical and serious conditions respectively the night after the crash.

His youngest son, Willy, was seriously injured, and had to spend the night at the crash site with his dead father[21] along with Jim Morhard, who survived.

The report was critical of the Federal Aviation Administration's re-certification process, stating:The Federal Aviation Administration's internal guidance for medical certification of pilots following stroke is inadequate because it is conflicting and unclear, does not specifically address the risk of recurrence associated with such an event, and does not specifically recommend a neuropsychological evaluation (formal cognitive testing) to evaluate potential subtle cognitive impairment.The report went on to note that the airplane was equipped with a Terrain Awareness and Warning System, but that the pilot had elected to fly with the system turned off.