NTSB Launches Investigation in Alaska After 10 Killed in Caravan Crash

The aircraft had gone missing Thursday while en route from Unalakleet to Nome on Alaska's west coast, prompting a massive search that included the U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard, and state police.

According to the National Weather Service, conditions were foggy with light snow when the flight departed. Contact with the aircraft was lost less than an hour later. FlightRadar24 flight tracking data showed the aircraft over Norton Sound when contact ended.

The wreckage was located late Friday afternoon about 12 miles offshore on an ice floe on Norton Sound. The aircraft wreckage was removed over the weekend.

The pilot and nine passengers were confirmed dead. “All 10 individuals aboard the Bering Air plane have officially been brought home,” the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a post on Facebook.

Photographs of the crash site show an airplane that appears to have pancaked on to the ice. The aircraft's tail and wings are twisted. NTSB investigators described the crash as "unsurvivable."

The Grand Caravan was operated by Bering Air, a carrier offering scheduled service from 32 villages in western Alaska. According to investigators, the Caravan took off from Unalakleet on Thursday around 2:37 p.m. AKST. 

Alaska State troopers identified the pilot as 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome. The passengers are listed as Rhone Baumgartner, 46; Donnell Erickson, 58; Andrew Gonzalez, 30; Kamerain Hartvigson, 41; Ian Hofmann, 45; Talaluk Katchatag, 34; Carol Mooers, 48; Jadee Moncur, 52; and Liane Ryan, 52.

According to the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, Antill advised Anchorage Air Traffic Control during the flight that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the weather to improve over Nome, which at the time was reporting whiteout conditions.  

The aircraft was less than an hour into the flight when it experienced a rapid loss of altitude and airspeed.

Bering Air Flight 45—a Grand Caravan EX—is an aircraft designed for utility and can be configured for passengers, cargo, or a mixture of both. The aircraft is equipped with a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114 turboprop engine.

The NTSB preliminary report on the accident is expected within 30 days.