Anchorage Daily News

Two people were killed when a Cessna 206 lost power shortly after lifting off from Merrill Field Wednesday morning, then nose-dived into a commercial building just west of the airport, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

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The airplane, registered to a Nevada pilot, had a maximum capacity for six seats, though investigators were "fairly certain" only the two confirmed dead were aboard, federal aviation officials said. No one on the ground was hurt.

"It was reported that he had a loss of engine power; he was subsequently cleared for any runway back at Merrill and the subsequent crash occurred," said National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson. "The wreckage was destroyed on impact and also from a post-accident fire."

Officials did not name those killed Wednesday.

The aircraft, which had just taken off from runway 25 headed for an unnamed destination, crashed high into the wall and roof of an unoccupied building at Eighth Avenue and Orca Street a few hundred yards south of the Glenn Highway at about 11:40 a.m.

The fuselage struck the facade, showering wheels and parts onto the roof and inside the building, Johnson said. Most of the wreckage, though, fell to the ground and burned on the pavement below, a thick cloud of black smoke rising above it.

By the time firefighters extinguished the charred wreckage it could not be identified as an airplane. The remains of one victim were on the pavement, having been thrown out in the initial impact, said police Lt. Paul Honeman.

"One was in the rubble and one was ejected," Honeman said. "It was pretty horrific."

Anchorage police Sgt. Ted Smith, a pilot for more than 30 years, was off duty and at the airport working on his own airplane when he saw the accident unfold. He estimated the aircraft was traveling at about 80 or 90 knots 400 feet up when its engine made an "ugly noise."

"My guess is that what he was trying to do was bank left real hard and try to put it down on or adjacent to the north-south runway," Smith said. "When he started to bank left, he overshot the runway, so he increased the angle of bank and eventually got into an accelerated stall.

"At that point, I surmise, he was thinking more along the lines of not crashing into someone's home or hurting people on the ground."

Steve Fox, 38, said he was across the Glenn Highway eating his lunch at Wendy's when he saw the plane in trouble.

"The wings were 90 degrees to the ground and then it just pointed straight down. It went down behind some buildings after that," Fox said. "It looked like something horrible was wrong."

The aircraft nose-dived into the building, snapping power lines on the way, and erupted in a ball of flames that Smith said appeared to reach as high as the telephone poles.

About 20 electricity customers, including nearby Fairview Elementary School on Nelchina Street, were without power until about 2 p.m., said Gary Fife, spokesman for Municipal Light and Power.

The building the airplane struck at Eighth and Orca had a roughly 20-by-20 foot hole torn in its roof and side. It is owned by City Electric Inc., a utility contractor, and was unoccupied, said Gabriel Marian, City Electric president. The building had been used for office and warehouse space but the tenant had moved out, Marian said.

There have been a number of missed approaches and takeoffs at Merrill Field over the years, Marian said.

From a layman's perspective, Marian said, it appears "this fellow lost power on takeoff and made a cardinal mistake in that he turned and tried to return to the airport."

Johnson, however, said any theories about whether the pilot intentionally avoided the residential neighborhood directly across the street or made mistakes were "purely speculation" that could not be verified so early into the investigation, which could take up to a year to complete.

The last communication from the pilot was a radio transmission to the tower moments before the crash in which the pilot reported losing power on the single-engine plane, a call that prompted airport officials to clear the runways for an emergency landing, Johnson said.

"At this point right now, we know we're at least dealing with a partial loss of power," Johnson said. "Hopefully we'll be able to do a sound-spectrum analysis and listen to the noises that were behind that radio transmission."

By late Wednesday afternoon, the wreckage had been collected and was awaiting inspection to determine what caused the power loss, he said.

The investigation was being put on the "fast track" and Johnson, with assistance from the manufacturer, planned to begin dissecting the engine -- the primary focus -- early next week. The fuselage was to be stored in Wasilla to await its turn, he said.

The single-engine plane was built in 1968 but has a current air worthiness certificate, said FAA spokesman Mike Fergus.

It is registered in Nevada but is based out of Homer during the summer months, Johnson said.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589. Find Lisa Demer at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call her at 257-4390.

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