Alaska crash killed 8 on second landing try in fog
Eight died when a Cessna 441 crashed on a second landing attempt in fog at a remote Alaska radar site.
A chartered Cessna 441 crashed on its second attempt to land at a remote military radar site in western Alaska, killing all eight people aboard, authorities said Friday.
The twin-engine aircraft, operated by Anchorage-based Security Aviation, went down around 11:45 a.m. Thursday near the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site, about 460 miles west-southwest of Anchorage.
National Transportation Safety Board officials said the two pilots were flying solely on instruments in heavy fog and had aborted a first landing attempt because visibility was too poor. The plane crashed on the second approach, roughly a third of a mile from the gravel runway.
On board were the two pilots, two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees, and four contractors. The military has not detailed the work being done at the site, which was built in the 1950s to provide early warning of a Soviet missile attack and now monitors airspace toward Russia, North Korea, and China.
Weather data showed visibility of about 10 miles shortly before the crash, but dropped to less than a quarter-mile within 15 minutes afterward as fog rolled in.
Search teams found highly fragmented wreckage in steep, mountainous terrain west of the runway. Recovery will require helicopters to lift debris back to Cape Newenham before it can be flown out by cargo plane, officials said.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis called the deaths "a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve."
NTSB investigators were traveling to the scene Friday. Security Aviation did not respond to requests for comment.