Clint Johnson sat in his spacious office in downtown Anchorage. A blueprint of a Bell 47 helicopter hung above him, and behind him was a picture of his family: his wife, two children and seven grandchildren.
"I think my wife is really looking forward to me not being on 24/7-365," he said.
Johnson worked at the National Transportation Safety Board for almost three decades, serving as chief of the Alaska Regional Office for more than a half of that. He oversaw a team of investigators that analyze plane crashes and make safety recommendations to companies and other agencies. Throughout his career, Johnson investigated over a thousand accidents.
"No two accidents are alike," he said. "Every accident kind of takes a chunk out of you, there's no doubt about it."
When Johnson was 7, his family moved from Northern California to Alaska and bought a helicopter company here. After graduating from college, Johnson flew for them. He said that experience informed his career as an investigator and helped him recognize the pressures that charter pilots face every day.
Johnson said a few of the crashes he investigated were especially challenging. One was the 2010 crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four other people. And in 2013, a helicopter crash killed three, including an Alaska State Trooper and a pilot Johnson and his team knew personally.
"That hit our office very, very hard," he said.
Johnson said he also watched the industry transform over the course of his career. In the beginning, the agency saw more fatal crashes.
"We were going out, especially in the summertime, on multi-fatal accidents — not every weekend, but much more often," he said. "With my 28 years, I've seen a lot of changes up here and a lot of changes for the better."
For example, in the late '90s, he said an effort to improve aviation safety in Western Alaska pioneered using avionics technology to broadcast an aircraft's position. He says the practice helped pilots navigate difficult terrain and was later incorporated nationwide.
Johnson said that, in a state that relies on aviation, there is still room for improvement. Alaska continues to lead the country in fatal plane crashes.
For example, he said installing flight recorders on small planes would help identify flight issues before they lead to accidents.
Another important area is filling gaps in weather reporting across the state and maintaining existing infrastructure, Johnson said. He said that lately, there has been an influx of federal funding and attention on the issue.
"I think we're going to see some big, big changes here in the very near future," he said.
Johnson said he originally planned to retire last year but decided to stay on to complete the investigation of the Bering Air plane crash that killed 10. The agency released its final report on the crash earlier this summer.
One recommendation in the report is increased oversight for small operators that, like Bering Air, have been growing quickly.
"You have one operator that goes out of business. Now there's this vacuum that is created that requires rapid growth," he said. "We saw it with Ravn, we saw it now with Bering, and there's been some other instances in the lower 48 as well."
The report also pointed out issues in the company's culture. Johnson said that in recent years, the agency has been looking more at how management plays a part in accidents.
"We've gotten much much better as far as looking at the corporate culture, the operational control," he said. "It's usually not just the pilot that has made an error. It's also the organization."
But overall, Johnson said keeping an open mind is the main thing when it comes to getting to the root cause of an accident.
"I've had to eat crow over the years, and I do not like eating crow," he said. "So you know, just be very methodical, follow the physical evidence, and don't jump to conclusions."
After retiring, Johnson wants to spend more time with his family, boating, camping and doing "all the things that grandparents do," he said. The family bought a house in Arizona to get an occasional break from winters, but Alaska will remain home.