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CBS News
20-03-2025
- General
- CBS News
Alaska plane that crashed, killing 10, was half a ton overweight for icy conditions, NTSB says
A commuter plane that crashed on sea ice off Alaska , killing all 10 people on board, was half a ton overweight for a trip into icy conditions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released Wednesday. Citing the Cessna operator's log for the flight, the NTSB said in the report that baggage and cargo collectively weighed about 709 pounds, contributing to the small plane's overall takeoff weight of about 9,776 pounds. The overall weight was roughly 969 pounds over the maximum takeoff gross weight for a flight into areas where forecasters expect icing conditions, and roughly 714 pounds over the maximum weight for any flight, according to the report . The weight is just a "data point" in the ongoing investigation, cautioned Clint Johnson, who leads the NTSB's Alaska region. A final report including probable causes can take a year or more after a crash. The pilot in the Feb 6. Bering Air crash , 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome, and nine passengers on board the plane died from their injuries. It was one of Alaska's deadliest plane crashes this century and the third major U.S. aviation mishap in an eight-day stretch. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing all six on board and another person on the ground. After the crash, investigators told CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave that the aircraft was not equipped with voice or data recorders, because that is not a requirement. After recovering the victims' remains, authorities said they would search for other components of the plane that store data which could help them better understand what led the plane to go down. Small airplanes like the Cessna Caravan in this crash are the workhorses of Alaska, where most of the state's 200-plus villages are beyond the road system and only accessible by air or boat. Residents rely on the commuter planes like people living in the Lower 48 depend on cars, using them to get to medical appointments and meetings, to go shopping, to visit relatives or to attend away high school sports games. The single-engine turboprop plane was flying that afternoon from the community of Unalakleet to Nome, a trip of about 150 miles, when authorities lost contact less than an hour after takeoff, David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air, said at the time. The Cessna Caravan went missing about 30 miles from its destination. Johnson said it remains to be determined whether the overweight conditions were a factor in the accident. Icing conditions were forecast along the route, and it was snowing, with some freezing rain in Nome, he said. Officials are trying to determine what information was relayed to the pilot, what information he had when he left and whether ice conditions existed at the crash location, he said. An email seeking comment sent to Bering Air was not immediately returned. Weather is often a factor in remote Alaska, and while flying is commonplace to most Alaskans, it can be a dangerous endeavor, said Whitney Power Wilson, an aviation accident litigation lawyer and pilot in Anchorage. "Icing should be concern for all pilots, but especially for pilots of smaller aircraft and pilots who frequently operate in conditions conducive to icing," she said. "The weight of an aircraft, the fact that icing is something that we're dealing with, those considerations have to be taken seriously because the consequences can be so tragic." Investigators also looked at the plane's altitude. It 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, NTSB chairperson Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference in Nome last month. Contact was lost shortly after air traffic control told the pilot the runway in Nome would be closed for about 15 minutes for deicing, the report says. "The controller added that if the pilot wanted to 'slow down a little bit' to prevent the flight from arriving before the runway reopened, that would be fine, and the pilot acknowledged," the report states. The pilot handbook also indicates an air speed of 95 knots must be maintained to fly in icing conditions if de-icing equipment is fully functional. About three minutes after the pilot was told to descend to 4,000 feet at his discretion, the autopilot disengaged at 99 knots, then dropped within seconds to 70 knots and was at about 3,100 feet, the report says. The final satellite tracking data came less than one minute later, at 3:20 p.m., at an altitude of 200 feet. The anti-icing system on the wings and tail of the 5-year-old turbo-propeller airplane was designed to prevent ice from accumulating, the report says. The operator said the quantity of deicing fluid was checked during each preflight inspection. The pilot is responsible for ensuring there is a sufficient quantity onboard, but there is no requirement to record when it's added to the airplane. A worker at the Unalakleet airport told the pilot that the fluid was available, but the pilot told her the tank was full, according to the report. The U.S. Coast Guard has said it was unaware of any distress signals from the plane. After an extensive search, the wreckage was found the following day on a drifting ice floe. The pilot and all nine passengers had been killed.
CNN
09-02-2025
- Climate
- CNN
All 10 victims of the fatal Alaska plane crash have been recovered, officials say
All 10 people killed when a regional airline flight crashed off the coast of western Alaska have been recovered and identified, authorities said Saturday. 'All ten individuals aboard the Bering Air plane have been officially brought home,' the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post Saturday night. 'Nome SAR efforts stand by for our Bering Air crew to complete their aircraft recovery operations.' The small commuter aircraft carrying nine passengers and one pilot took off from Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon before disappearing. The plane was later found on Friday about 34 miles southeast of Nome, the flight's intended destination, according to the US Coast Guard. All 10 on board were declared dead. The pilot of the plane was 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome, while the passengers were identified by Alaska State Troopers as Liane Ryan, 52; Donnell Erickson, 58; Andrew Gonzalez, 30; Kameron Hartvigson, 41; Rhone Baumgartner, 46; Jadee Moncur, 52; Ian Hofmann, 45; Talaluk Katchatag, 34; and Carol Mooers, 48. The wreckage is currently resting on sea ice that officials described as young and unstable, and heavy snow and winds in the area are expected this weekend. The bodies were the first be recovered, then the plane will be taken for further analysis, officials said. 'We don't know how long that's going to take. It could go hours; it could go potentially days. Coming up to tomorrow we have 18 hours of potential recovery time,' Jim West, chief of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, said at a news conference Friday night, citing the ever-changing conditions of the crash's site and incoming weather. A winter weather advisory is now in effect until 9 p.m. Sunday, with blowing snow, rain and mixed precipitation to be expected in Nome and other parts of western Alaska, the National Weather Service announced. Some areas may see up to five inches of snow, with ice accumulations of around a tenth of an inch, the NWS said. Wind gusts as high as 45 mph will also be recorded. 'The conditions out there are dynamic, so we've got to do it safely and the fastest we can,' he added. Investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash –– and how the aircraft suddenly dropped in elevation and speed. Analyzing air traffic control data will be key to the National Transportation Safety Board's probe, officials said. The NTSB has nine people working on the ground along with a dozen specialists supporting them back in Washington, DC, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Saturday news conference. 'Please understand there's some difficult conditions, because this is on an ice floe, which is moving about five miles a day,' she added. The Cessna aircraft, operated by Bering Air, was about 12 miles offshore when its position was lost, according to the Coast Guard. The aircraft 'experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed' around 3:18 p.m. Thursday, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said. The search for the aircraft had been complicated by multiple factors, including inclement weather as well as the missing plane had not communicated its position through an emergency transmitter, officials said. Visibility was better for searchers Friday morning: The sky was clear at Nome Airport around 10 a.m., with temperatures of around 5 degrees. The National Guard and Coast Guard added helicopter search teams to the effort Friday morning, while another Coast Guard C-130 landed in Nome to assist with the search, the fire department said. At a vigil hosted by the city of Nome on Friday, Amanda Snyder, pastor at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, urged those in attendance to lean on each other for support. 'Please do not isolate yourself in your grief. In the coming days, in the weeks, as we begin to hear of which families are impacted, our hearts are going to break over and over, and it's okay to mourn and grief, but please do not isolate,' Snyder said. 'Words can't express the loss we're all feeling, we're all connected in so many ways,' said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who joined the vigil via video conference. 'It's hard to accept the reality of our loss.' It is not unusual for Alaskans to travel between places by small plane due to the vast landscape and lack of transportation infrastructure available. 'It's just heartbreaking. Because every single person in this room has been on one of those planes,' Snyder told The Nome Nugget, the city's local paper. 'It hits home.' Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson were two employees from Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium who traveled to Unalakleet 'to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community's water plant,' the nonprofit said Friday night. 'Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson were passionate about the work they did, cared deeply for the communities they served, and made a lasting impact on rural communities across our state,' Natasha Singh, ANTHC interim president and CEO, said in a statement. 'They were the best at what they did and had just flown into Unalakleet to help address heating and mechanical issues in the depths of winter. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the people we serve in the work we do.' Homendy said she understands how tragic the crash is to the area. 'The NTSB knows that villages like Nome and Alaska aviation are tight-knit communities, so this tragedy affects so many,' she said Saturday. 'Please know that we'll work diligently to determine how this happened, with the ultimate goal of improving safety here in Alaska and across the United States.' CNN's Sarah Dewberry, Emma Tucker, Rebekah Riess, Chimaine Pouteau and Jeremy Harlan contributed to this report.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
All 10 people on missing plane that crashed in Alaska confirmed dead
All 10 people aboard a small plane that went missing and was later discovered crashed in Alaska have been confirmed dead, officials said in a statement. The Alaska Department of Public Safety said Saturday that all aboard the plane — nine passengers and one pilot — died. The plane had been traveling from Unalakleet to Nome on Thursday when it went missing. It was found crashed on Friday. The Alaska State Troopers positively identified all 10 victims on the plane after they were recovered and brought to Nome, Alaska DPS said in a statement. The dead were identified as pilot Chad Antill, 34, of Nome; Liane Ryan, 52, of Wasilla; Donnell Erickson, 58, of Nome; Andrew Gonzalez, 30, of Wasilla; Kameron Hartvigson, 41, of Anchorage; Rhone Baumgartner, 46, of Anchorage; Jadee Moncur, 52, of Eagle River; Ian Hofmann, 45, of Anchorage; Talaluk Katchatag, 34, of Unalakleet; and Carol Mooers, 48; of Unalakleet. At a news conference earlier Saturday, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the first priority of recovery efforts was recovering the victims. Then, the NTSB — which was investigating the crash — and responding agencies would work on recovering the wreckage. Three people were found dead inside the wreckage of the plane Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The agency said at the time that the seven others who were on the plane were "believed to be inside the aircraft, which was inaccessible due to the condition of the plane." "The Coast Guard determined the severity of the wreckage was beyond the possibility of survival," it said Friday. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium said in a statement that two of its employees, Baumgartner and Hartvigson, died in the crash. The company said the pair had traveled to Unalakleet "to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community's water plant." Officials have said the Bering Air Cessna Caravan took off from Unalakleet, on the east coast of Norton Sound in western Alaska, and was headed to Nome around 140 miles away. The plane took off at 2:37 p.m. Thursday, Bering Air Director of Operations David Olson told NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage. At around 3:18 p.m., radar analysis showed "this aircraft experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said at a news briefing Friday. The wreckage was found about 34 miles southeast of Nome, the Coast Guard said. The three bodies recovered Friday were found in the forward part of the aircraft by two Coast Guard swimmers, the agency said. The Nome Volunteer Fire Department, with assistance from the Alaska National Guard, said Friday it activated its search and rescue team for the recovery effort. Nome and Unalakleet are not serviced by the state's highway system. Air and water or snowmobile and trails are the main forms of transport between the two. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Friday that he and his wife, Rose, "are heartbroken by the loss of the 10 people on the Bering Air flight" and said their "prayers are with the families, friends, and communities mourning this tragedy." Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, thanked all those who responded and braved the elements to search for the plane, and said Friday that "my heart is broken over the news out of Nome." "Alaska is a big small town," she said. "When tragedy strikes, we're never far removed from the Alaskans directly impacted. But that also means we come together as a community to grieve and heal." This article was originally published on
CBS News
09-02-2025
- General
- CBS News
All 10 victims recovered from Alaska plane wreckage have been identified
All 10 victims that were aboard an aircraft that went missing near Nome, Alaska, on Thursday have been recovered, the city's fire department said. Three of the victims had been found Friday in the wreckage of Bering Air Flight 445 that is on an ice floe. Crews recovered the remaining seven victims Saturday, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department reported. Alaska State Troopers later identified the pilot as 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome. The passengers were also identified Saturday night as: 52-year-old Liane Ryan of Wasilla 58-year-old Donnell Erickson of Nome 30-year-old Andrew Gonzalez of Wasilla 41-year-old Kameron Hartvigson of Anchorage 46-year-old Rhone Baumgartner of Anchorage 52-year-old Jadee Moncur of Eagle River 45-year-old Ian Hofmann of Anchorage 34-year-old Talaluk Katchatag of Unalakleet 48-year-old Carol Mooers of Unalakleet After being brought to Nome, their remains were in the process of being transported to the Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage for autopsies, state troopers said. Victim recovery was the National Transportation Safety Board's primary focus, and now crews will work to recover the Caravan's wreckage. The crash site is moving approximately 5 miles a day, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference on Saturday. She added that the area where the Cessna 208 Caravan went down is also expecting some snow, which was expected to hinder recovery operation. "The NTSB knows that villages like Nome and Alaska aviation are tight-knit communities, so this tragedy affects so many," Homendy said. "Please know that we will work diligently to determine how this happened with the ultimate goal of improving safety here in Alaska and across the United States." Investigators told CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave on Saturday that the aircraft is not equipped with voice or data recorders as it is not a requirement. Following victim recovery, authorities will search for other avionic components that store electronic data which may help paint a clearer picture of what led to the crash. The Bering Air Caravan that initially went missing on Feb. 6 on its way to Nome experienced a rapid loss in altitude and speed, prompting the Coast Guard to launch a search and rescue operation, officials said earlier. It was the third major U.S. aviation incident in eight days. An American Eagle flight and Army Black Hawk helicopter collided and plunged into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing all 67 people on the two aircraft. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and one more on the ground.
