Warren Prax, 07-30-05

Cory Marsh 

Alaska digest, Published: August 22nd, 2005

FAIRBANKS

Pilot who crashed July 30 not medically cleared to fly

A longtime Fairbanks businessman was not medically cleared to fly when he crashed in July, killing himself and a passenger.

Warren Prax was at the controls of a Cessna 180 that crashed, killing him and Cory Marsh, 21, on July 30. The pair were en route to a remote hunting lodge on the Wood River 50 miles southwest of Fairbanks, a flight of about 22 minutes. They crashed seven miles from the lodge.

A preliminary report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board said Prax, 71, who underwent heart bypass surgery three months before the crash, did not have a current medical certificate on file with the Federal Aviation Administration and had not applied for a new one.

It is illegal to fly without a medical certificate.

The report did not identify a reason for the crash.

The NTSB report also said Prax violated FAA rules by failing to provide a seat in the plane for Marsh, whom Prax had enlisted to work on heavy equipment at the lodge.

Private pilots over the age of 40 must pass a physical examination every two years to maintain their medical certificate, said aviation safety inspector Steve Lindsay with the FAA in Fairbanks. Prax used a private airstrip, and the only way the FAA would have known Prax was flying illegally was if he did something to bring it to the agency's attention, Lindsay said.

Prax founded Prospector Outfitter stores in Fairbanks and Valdez and had flown for about 45 years in Alaska.

The NTSB report also said Prax violated FAA rules by failing to provide a seat in the plane for Marsh, whom Prax had enlisted to work on a heavy equipment at the lodge.

Pilots are required by FAA regulations to have a seat and seat belt for every passenger in a plane, said Larry Lewis, an investigator with the NTSB.<> According to Marsh's girlfriend, Shandra Chambers, who dropped Marsh off at Prax's airstrip in North Pole the morning of the crash, Marsh would routinely have to sit on a plastic bucket or small ice chest during the flight to the lodge.

While Marsh thought it "weird" that Prax didn't have a seat for him, Chambers said, it was not enough to stop him from flying with Prax.

"He would have sat on the floor as long as he was going up in a plane," she said.

FAA aviation safety inspector Chris Lang said the plane was not overloaded.

-- The Associated Press