Jim Tuito, patriarch of the Jungle Pilots family who starred in the Discovery Channel series Flying Wild AlaskaAlaska authorities said the small plane he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff on Friday. He was 68 years old.
A passenger in a Toyota Cessna 180, fishing guide Shane Reynolds, was also killed in the crash, which occurred a few dozen miles northeast of the coastal village of Shaktolik. Reynolds was 45 years old.
A report on the crash by Alaska State Troopers stated that the plane “was seen taking off, but did not climb and then crash,” according to Anchorage Daily News. The newspaper reported that the witness was a third person in the group’s hunting party who remained on the ground.
Plant in Unalakleet, Alaska, by way of Kansas and Minnesota, according to News agencyTweto starred in the documentary series Discovery for three seasons alongside his wife and their three daughters. The show, which ran from January 2011 to July 2012, followed the family as they run Alaska Age, a small regional airline serving remote communities along the Bering Sea coast.
Ariel Tuito, his second daughter, broke the news of her father’s death on Saturday. “I didn’t think anything could hurt this bad,” she wrote on Instagram. “…and endure any other kind of pain if he could go down today.”
I also posted a link to Online fundraising to the Reynolds family, which exceeded its $60,000 goal by Sunday night.
On Sunday, Ariel posted more photos of her dad on Instagram. “Happy Father’s Day, Dad,” she said. “I know you are all with us now. I can’t write you my usual long letter because our house is full of family and friends and you can give me a peek if you see me on my phone so I don’t.”
“But I love you,” she wrote, adding a heart emoji.
Ariel, who has a recurring voice role in the 2021 Fox animated series Great North“Operating every day since May 2002,” according to Archived copy From her biography on the Discovery Channel website. On Sunday, she’s back on the jogging track.
In a video posted to her Instagram Story, Ariel explained that she was taking a break that day, and that she usually ran on her own. “I had a great idea, because whenever I run, I usually call my dad between running and walking,” she said from behind the camera. “But now, instead of calling him, he can go all over the world with me. So now my runs will be run with dad.”
Ariel gets emotional overtly as she wishes “Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.”
“You guys have a chance, parents out there,” she said. “You really have a chance to make a difference in your children’s lives. So show them. Call them all the time. Hug them when you see them… yeah, Happy Father’s Day.”
An investigation into the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration is ongoing.
