A chartered twin-engine Cessna crashed near Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport in western Alaska on Thursday, killing all eight people aboard and drawing a fast response from state, federal and military agencies.
The flight had left Anchorage for Cape Newenham and was being operated by Security Aviation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Two Corps employees were among the dead, and the reported that the other victims included two pilots and six passengers.
The crash happened about 450 miles west of Anchorage, near an Air Force airstrip that serves the Long Range Radar Station. The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center opened a search and rescue mission after a Federal Aviation Administration alert notification, and the National Transportation Safety Board, Alaska State Troopers and the Rescue Coordination Center were responding as crews reached the site.
The setting makes the loss harder to absorb. Cape Newenham is remote, but it is not unreachable; the airstrip there is meant to support access to a radar site. Even so, every person on board died when the aircraft went down on land near the airport, leaving investigators with the task of figuring out why a flight to a mission-critical facility ended in a fatal crash.
Robert Davis said it was “a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve.” Lisa Murkowski said Alaska was praying for those on board, their loved ones and the team at Security Aviation, while Nick Begich and his wife Dharna said they joined Alaskans across the state in praying for everyone affected and the entire Security Aviation family. The investigation remained open Thursday, and the central unanswered question is still the one that matters most: what brought the plane down there at all.
