‘Flying Wild Alaska’ pilot Jim Tweto dies in plane crash

Bush pilot and former Discovery Channel star Jim Tweto died Friday in a plane crash that also claimed the life of an outdoor guide from Idaho, authorities said. He was 68.

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Tweto and friend Shane Reynolds, 45, died when Tweto’s Cessna 180 crashed about 35 miles northeast of the coastal town of Shaktoolik just before 11:50 a.m. on Friday. Witnesses told Alaska State Troopers that they saw the plane take off, but that it failed to climb and instead crashed. A satellite device on the plane alerted troopers to the incident.

Authorities said they recovered two bodies from the crash, identified as Tweto and Reynolds.

Tweto’s daughter, Ariel, confirmed her father’s death in a social media post on Friday.

“I didn’t think anything could hurt this bad,” she wrote.

“My dad and a wonderful hunting guide and friend of our family passed away this afternoon in his 180. He died doing what he truly loved and is now with uncle Ron up there soaring.”

Reynolds was an outdoor guide who lived with his wife and daughter in Orofino, Idaho, according to a GoFundMe campaign started to help his family and shared by Ariel Tweto.

“Flying Wild Alaska” aired for three seasons on the Discovery Channel from 2011 to 2012. It followed the Tweto family as they ran their airline business based in Unalakleet.

Tweto was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1954 and grew up in Minnesota, according to a biography from the Discovery Channel. He moved to Alaska to play college hockey when he was 18 and learned he had a love of flying. In 1980, he moved to Unalakleet and met his future wife, Ferno. In the ensuing years, he launched the flying business that was later featured on “Flying Wild Alaska.”

It was not immediately clear what caused Friday’s crash. The National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska Region Chief Clint Johnson told the Anchorage Daily News that the agency is investigating, as is the Federal Aviation Administration.

Tweto is survived by his wife and the couple’s three daughters, Entertainment Weekly reported.

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