The single-engine plane that carried wolf biologist Gordon Haber to his death last week burned so fiercely after it crashed that portions of its aluminum fuselage and wings were turned to ash and smoke, according to a federal investigator.

The 40-year-old Cessna 185 clipped the tops of six or seven trees before coming to rest upright on a slope of spruce trees in Denali National Park, leaving a trail of debris about 150 feet long, said Joshua Cawthra, an aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Cawthra, based in Seattle, said in a telephone interview Monday that he has not yet been able to contact the pilot of the plane, Daniel McGregor, 35, of Denali Park.

McGregor remained in "satisfactory" condition Monday in the burn unit of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. A hospital spokeswoman said McGregor is expected to remain at Harborview for another two weeks as he recovers from burns to his face and hands.

McGregor had told campers and a park ranger that Haber, an independent biologist supported by the wildlife protection group Friends of Animals, was tracking a wolf pack near the East Fork of the Toklat River on Wednesday when the plane encountered strong winds and crashed. McGregor said he was able to free himself before the fire started but had to abandon efforts to free Haber when spilled aviation gasoline ignited. McGregor walked 20 miles Thursday to reach civilization.

Cawthra said he doesn't know whether Haber initially survived the crash but hopes to learn that from McGregor.

Cawthra investigated the crash site Friday. He said all the plane's control cables were present in the wreckage, though that discovery of itself doesn't foreclose the possibility of a mechanical failure, he said. Cawthra said he has not yet obtained the plane's logs and maintenance records.

The Cessna was owned by McGregor, a licensed commercial pilot with an instrument rating and a certified aviation mechanic. Last summer, McGregor worked for the flightseeing company Denali Air but that company had nothing to do with the Haber observation flights, Cawthra said.

Plans are being made to remove the wreckage, Cawthra said, though it's uncertain whether recovery will be completed before the area is snowed in.

Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345.

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