Zachary Tanner Blom

• Missing Since 12/07/2016
• Missing From Port Alsworth, Alaska
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Age 13 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0, 90 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A red winter coat and black snow boots over a t-shirt and jeans, a beaver fur hat, gloves and light blue Kamuk winter boots.
• Associated Vehicle(s) Single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee plane
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Zachary's nickname is Zach.

Details of Disappearance

Zachary was last seen in Port Alsworth, Alaska on December 7, 2016. He was on a single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee plane piloted by Kyle Longerbeam, with his father, Scott, and sister, Kaitlyn. They were on their way to Anchorage, Alaska, where the children's school, Tanalian School, was competing in the Mixed Six Volleyball State Championship.

The Bloms had been scheduled to take a scheduled air carrier flight to the city, but that morning, Scott, Kaitlyn and Zachary canceled their reservations and decided to fly with Longerbeam. Scott's wife took the commercial flight because Longerbeam's plane only had seats for four. The Bloms' middle son, who played on the volleyball team, flew to Anchorage on a different flight with his teammates, and their oldest son was already in Anchorage as a student at the University of Alaska.

The flight should have taken ninety minutes. The plane took off from Port Alsworth that morning, and never arrived in Anchorage as expected. Authorities believe it went down in Lake Clark, but no bodies have been recovered. The next day, the plane's co-pilot seat, three of its wheels, and some of the occupants' personal belongings were found floating in the lake. Nothing else has been recovered.

Longerbeam didn't yet have enough training for instrument rating and had to fly under visual flight rules, meaning that in uncontrolled airspace, he needed at least one mile of visibility. When he took off from Port Alsworth that day, the weather was good enough to operate under visual flight rules, but there was reduced visibility along the anticipated route, including low-lying freezing fog over Lake Clark.

Poor visibility may have played a role in the cause of the crash, but the National Transportation Safety Board's report ruled the cause of the crash "undetermined due to a lack of physical evidence."

The Bloms and Longerbeam are presumed deceased, but will remain classified as missing under their bodies are located. Due to the depth of the lake, a successful recovery mission is considered unlikely.