Legendary Chugiak bush pilot killed in crash

ANCHORAGE - The Chugiak man killed in the crash of his Piper Super Cub near McGrath was known as a legendary bush pilot and outlaw hunter.

The 79-year-old John Graybill and his 78-year-old wife Dolly were killed Aug. 11 when their plane went down in bad weather as they were heading home from a tour of the western Alaska Interior.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the Graybills moved to Fairbanks from Michigan in the early 1950s. A 2001 profile in National Geographic's Adventure magazine called Graybill a legendary bush pilot and notorious poacher in Alaska's Outlaw Wars.

He was convicted of 18 violations, including herding bear from a plane using explosives, and sentenced in 1982 to 18 months in prison.