Published: October 6th, 2008 09:35 PM
Last Modified: October 6th, 2008 09:35 PM
EKLUTNA -- Anchorage police on Monday identified the body of a man killed when his experimental aircraft crashed in woods near a gravel pit last week.
Wasilla resident Richard Roiland, 61, died after his Challenger 2 aircraft suddenly took a nose dive in the area along the Alaska Railroad tracks at about 3 p.m. Friday, police said.
The home-built aircraft was traveling west several hundred feet above the tree tops when it went down, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash.
Federal investigators say Roiland did not make a radio distress call before the crash and that the aircraft appears to have gone down too quickly for him to deploy a rocket-propelled parachute it was equipped with.
Weather does not appear to have been a factor. The investigation is continuing.
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