On August 9, 2023, 45-year-old Jason Tucker of Wasilla, Alaska, was piloting a Piper PA-18 Super Cub on a hunting-related trip in the remote southwest preserve of Denali National Park and Preserve. He was flying with 44-year-old Nicolas Blace of Chugiak; Tucker was to drop Blace at an airstrip near the Dillinger River and then return for another hunter, but the plane never reached its destination and did not return.

The Alaska Air National Guard located the wreckage the next day at the bottom of a deep, narrow ravine north of the West Fork of the Yentna River in Shellabarger Pass. The ravine is roughly 500 to 600 feet deep with very steep, unstable walls and a rapidly flowing creek, and aircrew observations suggested survival was unlikely. Multiple attempts to reach the site by short-haul, rappelling, and a mechanical grabber were considered and rejected because of extreme hazards.

Because of the danger to rescuers, officials suspended recovery operations for the aircraft and the two men. The investigation into the cause of the crash continues but is complicated by the inability to access the wreckage. Did anyone in the area see the plane that day or remember activity near Shellabarger Pass?