JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees were among eight killed in a small plane crash near the site of a remote aircraft-tracking radar in western Alaska, the U.S. military said.The agency had chartered the plane, which crashed Thursday near its destination, the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport, approximately 450 miles (725 kilometers) west of Anchorage, Alaska. The two pilots and six passengers were not immediately identified.The twin-engine Cessna 441 had taken off from the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.“This is a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Eleventh Air Force, said in a statement.
The NTSB and the FAA are investigating the crash. It happened in foggy weather, according to information compiled by a service that’s part of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit.The airport is a private military site. The radar site is managed by the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center. It’s part of a network of remote radar sites that tracks aircraft operating in Alaska’s airspace and along its borders, the statement from Alaskan Command said.The statement did not provide details on the specific work the individuals were doing.
