Alaska plane that crashed and killed 10 was too heavy for conditions, NTSB report says
A Cessna plane that crashed while flying to Nome, Alaska, last month, killing all 10 people on board, was hundreds of pounds too heavy for icing conditions, a National Transportation Safety Board report says.
The Bering Air flight was traveling from Unalakleet to Nome on Feb. 6 when it crashed.
Calculations after crash showed that the cargo gross takeoff weight at departure was 9,865 pounds — about 1,058 pounds heavier than the maximum for forecast icing conditions, the NTSB said in a preliminary report.
Records show the aircraft was using a payload extender, and that weight made it 803 pounds over the limit for any flight operations with that system, the report said.
'A senior NTSB aerospace engineer will conduct a detailed review of the airplane's performance as part of the investigation, including an evaluation of the airplane's center of gravity location,' the report released Wednesday said.
Bering Air did not immediately respond to a voicemail and email requesting comment.
The Cessna 208B took off from Unalakleet, on the coast of Norton Sound in western Alaska, at 2:37 p.m. on Feb. 6, and it was headed towards Nome, which is about 140 miles away.
It did not arrive, and searchers found the wreckage on a large floating icepack on Norton Sound, southeast of Nome, the next day, the NTSB report says.
Federal Aviation Administration "automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast" data showed the last location of the plane at 3:20 p.m. about 32 miles southeast of the Nome airport, and 12 miles offshore of Norton Sound, the report says.
The crash remains under investigation, and the preliminary report released Wednesday does not conclude a cause of the crash.
The flight was described in the report as an air taxi and commuter.
Nome and Unalakleet are not serviced by the state's highway system, leaving air and water or snowmobile and trails the main forms of transport between the two.
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