NTSB: Overweight Aircraft, Severe Icing Caused Fatal Bering Air Crash

Final report on 2025 accident near Nome, Alaska, cites poor airspeed management and degraded situational awareness as key factors.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, July 31, 2026 at 12:29 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

NTSB has released the final report on the Bering Air crash that killed 10 in 2025. [Credit: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB determined the February 2025 Bering Air Flight 445 crash, which killed all 10 occupants, was caused by an overloaded aircraft, poor airspeed management, and severe icing conditions.
The probable cause was a combination of the pilot's increased workload from managing the ice protection system and a temporary runway closure, which degraded situational awareness, leading to airspeed decay, an aerodynamic stall, and an unrecoverable descent, exacerbated by the aircraft operating above its maximum gross weight.
The investigation uncovered systemic issues, including Bering Air's routine overweight operations and the FAA's lack of oversight, prompting NTSB recommendations for enhanced pilot training, dispatch, flight data monitoring, and load manifest requirements for Part 135 operators.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has cited an overloaded aircraft, poor airspeed management, and severe icing conditions as causal factors in the February 2025 crash of Bering Air Flight 445 near Nome, Alaska, which killed all 10 people on board.

In releasing its final report on the accident Thursday, the NTSB said the Cessna 208B Caravan was on the final leg of a scheduled commuter flight to Nome when it crashed onto pack ice about 12 miles offshore of Norton Sound, killing the pilot and all nine passengers.