Pilot tells NTSB he didn't see other plane before collision

The preliminary report, released Tuesday, detailed the lethal collision.

One pilot, 56-year-old Kevin Earp, had just taken off from Sister Lake the afternoon of July 30 and was about to land his floatplane -- a Cessna 206 -- at Amber Lake, about a mile away, the report says.

Earp then caught a glimpse of another plane coming at him from his right, according to the report.

Earp, a veteran pilot for Alaska Airlines, steered his plane up and to the left, the report says. It was too late. The planes struck, damaging Earp's floats and sending the other plane to the ground where it burst into flames, the transportation safety board reports.

Inside the crashed Cessna 180 were pilot Corey Carlson, his wife, Hetty Barnett Carlson, and their two young children, 5-year-old Ella and 3-year-old Adelaide, according to family members.

Earp used a mobile phone to alert people at Amber Lake about the collision and subsequent crash, the report says. He then flew to Anchorage, which he decided was a safer place to land.

The damaged floatplane landed on a hard-surface runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, according to the report.

The two small planes had collided about 16 miles from Talkeetna. At the crash site, only the Cessna 180's tail section remained, witnesses said.

Family members described the Carlsons as a tight-knit bunch who loved to fly. Corey Carlson, a former Service High hockey player, became a pilot about six years ago. He would often fly with the girls and Hetty, his wife of eight years and a fourth-generation Alaskan, family said.

The Carlsons had taken off from Lake Hood in Anchorage headed for a cabin at Lake Clark but turned back due to poor weather in the area, family said. They were likely headed to Amber Lake as an alternate destination for a few hours of fun, said Hetty's father, David Barnett.

Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.