Heartbreakingly fundamental motive Alaska aircraft crashed and killed all 10 individuals on board
An investigation into one of the deadliest plane crashes in Alaska in 25 years has ruled the weather conditions proved to be too much for the weight of the plane
A crashed commuter flight that killed all 10 people onboard was too heavy for the icy weather in Alaska, according to a damning new report.
The Bering Air Cessna Caravan lost contact while flying over Alaska, US, before crashing into the icy sea about 30 miles off the coast. All ten people, including the pilot, onboard the plane tragically died on February 6, making it one of the deadliest plane crashes in Alaska in 25 years.
At the time, a large weather front was sitting above Western Alaska, drastically altering the flying conditions. The freezing temperatures risked ice build-up as the plane flew into Nome, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) preliminary report.
In such conditions, planes should carry just over 8,800 pounds to land safely. However, the Bering Air plane was at approximately 9,865 pounds, half a ton over “the maximum takeoff gross weight for [a] flight into known or forecasting ice conditions,” NTSB investigator in charge Timothy Sorensen wrote.
NTSB Alaska chief Clint Johnson told the Anchorage Daily News : “It’s the passengers, the pilot, the fuel on board… in addition to the cargo.
“Tools, everything you could possibly imagine coming out of the bush.”
Weather advisory on the day of the crash suggested “occasional moderate icing” between 2,000 and 8,000 feet, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The National Weather Service reported that temperatures were in the single digits, with light snow, wind gusts of up to 35mph and low visibility.
Alongside this, weather observations at Nome also included “trace icing” starting just before 3pm.
The propeller plane flew in icy conditions often so was outfitted with de-icing technology and specific fluid. However investigators at the crash site found significant accumulation at the base of the strobe light at the top of the plane’s tail fin and minor ice accumulation on some leading-edge surfaces.
They also found that the impact of the crash caused the plane’s emergency locator transmitter to become disconnected from the antenna, causing it to become inoperable and the plane to lose signal.
During the flight from Unalakleet to Nome, the pilot was told that the runway at Nome needed to be de-iced and would be temporarily shut, so the controller “added if the pilot wanted to “slow down a little bit” to prevent the flight from arriving before the runway reopened, that would be fine,” the report says.
The plane slowed as it levelled off at around 6,000 feet in the air before it descended to 4,000 feet.
The autopilot was disengaged about one minute before it disappeared and the flight’s speed and altitude quickly plummeted. The plane’s last signal came from satellite tracking data picking it up at just 200 feet above the air, the NTSB report says.
Among the victims was the pilot, Chad Antill, 34.
The remaining victims included 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.
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