Authorities are focusing on the wreckage of a small commuter aircraft as they try to determine what caused it to go down Thursday in the icy Bering Sea off Nome, killing 10 people.
The single-engine turboprop plane was traveling from Unalakleet to the hub community of Nome when it disappeared Thursday afternoon.
Crews on Saturday succeeded in recovering the remains of those killed in the Bering Air crash from a drifting ice floe before the anticipated onset of high winds and snow. By the end of the day, the wreckage was taken by helicopter to a hangar in Nome.
Here are things to know about the plane crash, which is one of the deadliest in the state in 25 years.
The plane was reported missing near Nome
Officials said contact with the Cessna Caravan was lost less than an hour after it left Unalakleet on Thursday. Authorities said the flight was a regularly scheduled trip, and the aircraft went missing about 30 miles southeast of Nome.
The wreckage was found Friday by rescuers who were searching by helicopter. Local, state and federal agencies scoured large stretches of icy waters and miles of frozen tundra before finding the plane.
Nine passengers and the pilot were killed.
Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people about 150 miles southeast of Nome and some 395 miles northwest of Anchorage. The village is on the Iditarod trail, route of the world’s most famous sled dog race that ends in Nome.
The cause of the crash is under investigation
Radar data provided by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol indicated the plane rapidly lost elevation and speed, but it is unclear why that happened, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said he was unaware of any distress signals from the aircraft. If a plane is exposed to seawater, an emergency locating transmitter sends a signal to a satellite, which then relays that message to the Coast Guard. No such messages were received by the Coast Guard.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy said Sunday that the plane was flying in an area where moderate icing was possible between 2,000 feet and 8,000 feet and where the weather could be hazardous to light aircraft. However, she said the plane, which was last spotted on radar at 3,400 feet, had an anti-icing system on its wings and tail, which will be examined as part of the investigation.
She stressed that investigators were not leaning toward any cause for the crash at this point.
“Right now it’s really a focus on the wreckage and we’ll see where that takes us,” she said.
Who was on the plane?
Authorities on Saturday identified the crash victims, who ranged in age from the 34-year-old, Nome-based pilot to a 58-year-old passenger, also a resident of Nome.
The pilot was identified as 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome. The other victims were Rhone Baumgartner, 46, of Anchorage; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Kameron Hartvigson, 41, of Anchorage; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, of Unalakleet; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Carol Mooers, 48, of Unalakleet; and Liane Ryan, 52, of Wasilla, troopers said.
Ryan, of Wasilla, was a longtime educator who worked as a mentor to early-career teachers, according to her biography on the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project webpage.
Baumgartner and Hartvigson had traveled to Unalakleet to service a heat recovery system vital to the community’s water plant, according to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
“The loss of these two incredible individuals and everyone else on board the plane will be felt all over Alaska,” David Beveridge, vice president of environmental health and engineering for the organization, said in a statement.
Katchatag, of Unalakleet, was also among those lost. Known as TK, he was described by his older sister in an online fundraiser as a soft spoken and strong man who was wise beyond his years.
“His soul was genuine, and he lived life so matter of factly,” AyyuSue Katchatag wrote of her brother.
The flight operator, Bering Air, said it had set up telephone hotlines staffed with specialists to provide emotional support and updates to people who had loved ones on the flight.
“At this time, our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” the company said on its website. “We recognize the profound loss this has caused, and we want to extend our sincerest condolences to everyone impacted.”
Flying is an important mode of transportation in Alaska
Alaska’s vast landscape and limited infrastructure makes traveling by plane commonplace. Most communities are not connected to the developed road system that serves the state’s most populous region.
Some high school teams fly to sporting events against rival high schools, and goods are brought to many communities by barge or by air.
Other recent U.S. plane crashes also under investigation
The crash marks the third major civilian aviation incident in the U.S. in just over a week.
The midair collision of a commercial jet and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River killed 67 people on Jan. 29. Six people on board and a person on the ground died when a medical transport plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31.
An F-35 fighter jet crashed at Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks on Jan. 28; the pilot safely ejected.
The Bering Air crash appears to be Alaska’s deadliest since 2013, when 10 people died in Soldotna during takeoff of a Rediske Air Inc. charter carrying two families going bear viewing.
This story was primarily reported by the Associated Press, with additional Information from the Anchorage Daily News.