A plane was attempting its second landing in heavy fog when it crashed at a military site in western Alaska, according to an update by officials on Friday.
Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, said the pilots could not see the gravel runway because of poor visibility. The pilots instead relied entirely on the plane’s GPS and other instruments, not on their own visual reference, when it crashed around noon on Thursday, he said.
Johnson noted that aviation regulations require pilots to abort their first landing attempt because of poor visibility. Weather conditions showed that heavy fog was rolling through the area at the time. But the plane crashed during its second attempt, about one-third of a mile from the actual runway, which is surrounded by high, mountainous terrain on three sides.
Friday’s update sheds light on what may have caused the twin-engine Cessna 441 to crash, although federal investigators continue to investigate an exact cause. The plane was scheduled to land at the remote radar site after departing from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
All eight people on board the Cessna were killed in the Aug. 20 crash.
The aircraft was carrying the two pilots, two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees, and four contractors.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Eleventh Air Force, described them as carrying out a “vital mission in a demanding environment.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers only disclosed that its two workers were on their way to a project site in support of the U.S. Air Force and were part of a “project delivery team.” But the military has not disclosed details of the work at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site, located about 450 miles west of Anchorage along Alaska’s southwest coast.
The radar site, built in the 1950s, had been used as part of a network to provide early warning of a potential missile attack by the Soviet Union. It currently monitors potential airborne threats approaching or operating in Alaska’s airspace.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski paid tribute to those who were killed.
The names of those who died in the crash will not be released until next of kin have been formally notified.