Brendan Lee Mattingley, 27, was last seen at the Soldotna airport on October 13, 2012. He was preparing to fly his green, white, and red PA18 Piper Super Cub, tail number N444LZ, on a planned flight to Wasilla. Radar showed his aircraft until about 2:30 a.m., when the track vanished; the last known position was over the middle of the inlet.

Search efforts turned up no immediate sign of Brendan or his plane. On October 30, 2013, an airplane tire washed ashore on Kodiak; the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed it belonged to Mattingley’s Piper. That lone piece of wreckage confirmed the aircraft was lost but offered no clear explanation of what happened or where the main wreckage and pilot might be.

The specific circumstances leading to the disappearance remain unknown. If anyone has information about Brendan, his flight that night, or sightings of the aircraft after October 13, 2012, please come forward.