On July 28, 2006, 41-year-old pilot Ian Beer vanished while flying a blue and white, four-seat Aero Commander from Kenai to Anchorage. Beer, from Port Orchard, Washington, was accompanied by Ralph Aiken of East Wenatchee, Washington, and Ricky Posusta of Boise, Idaho. The flight left Kenai at about 8:10 p.m.; the last communication occurred around 8:30 p.m. and the FAA declared the aircraft overdue the next morning.

Radar and a satellite tracking device placed the plane over Gompertz Channel in Cook Inlet, about three miles from shore. Data showed the aircraft low and slow before an abrupt turn toward the inlet’s center, where the track ended. Extensive searches focused on the Kenai Peninsula’s northwest waters and shoreline; despite a possible sighting from a fishing vessel, no wreckage, debris, oil slick, or emergency locator transmitter signal was found. The NTSB ruled the probable crash cause Undetermined and the airplane and occupants remain missing.

If anyone was on the Kenai Peninsula or in Cook Inlet that night and saw anything related to this flight, please share what you know.