Authorities reported on Friday that a plane crash at a secluded military installation in western Alaska resulted in the deaths of all eight individuals onboard. The aircraft was performing its second approach to the runway in dense fog when it lost contact.
According to Clint Johnson, the chief of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for the Alaska region, the two pilots of the Cessna were unable to see the gravel airstrip and relied entirely on instruments at the time of the crash, which occurred around midday on Thursday.
He explained that regulations necessitated the cancellation of their initial landing attempt due to poor visibility, and the aircraft went down approximately 500 meters from the runway during its second attempt. The runway is flanked by mountainous terrain on three sides, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advises pilots to utilize GPS and additional instruments when landing in that area.
Also among the passengers were two personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and four contractors, with two of the contractors being employees of Calista Brice, a group of companies engaged in construction, engineering, logistics, and other services in remote locations. Calista Brice operates as a subsidiary of Calista Corp., which is an Alaska Native regional corporation.
The military has not disclosed the specific nature of the work being conducted at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site, located about 725 kilometers west of Anchorage on Alaska’s southwestern coast.
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On Friday, NTSB investigators were en route to the crash site.
The radar station was established in the 1950s as part of a defense network intended to provide early detection of a potential missile strike from the Soviet Union. Currently, it monitors airspace off the coast facing Russia, North Korea, and China.
Lt.-Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and the Eleventh Air Force, stated on Thursday that those onboard were “dedicated professionals executing a crucial mission in a challenging environment.”
Davis expressed, “This is a tragic loss for our military community and the populations we support.”
Fog moved through the area
Changing weather conditions on Thursday brought heavy fog to the region.
An automated weather observation system located near the airport indicated a low cloud ceiling, fog, and visibility of approximately 16 kilometers just before the crash. However, the following update about 15 minutes later showed visibility had sharply decreased to under 400 meters, as reported by Carrie Haisley, the meteorologist leading the U.S. National Weather Service’s Alaska sector operations center.
Mike O’Donnell, who managed airport safety programs and accident investigations for much of his 17-year tenure at the FAA, remarked that the weather conditions appeared severe enough that the pilots should have opted to divert and land elsewhere.
The airstrip is situated at a private military facility overseen by the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center, forming part of a network of remote radar stations that monitor aircraft operating within Alaska’s airspace and along its borders, according to a statement from Alaskan Command.
The outpost at Cape Newenham was decommissioned in 1983 following the installation of a new radar, and the site is now only occasionally visited by civilian contractors who conduct maintenance on the system.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the two deceased employees were associated with a “project delivery team en route to a project site in support of the U.S. Air Force.” The statement did not include further specifics regarding the work.
Johnson mentioned that the flight was operated by Security Aviation, based in Anchorage. The charter company did not respond immediately to requests for comments.