Weather delays recovery of pilot's body from Southwest Alaska crash site

Poor weather at the site of a Grant Aviation plane crash in Southwest Alaska has prevented authorities from reaching the remote area and recovering the pilot's remains for another day.

Noreen Price, the National Transportation Safety Board's lead investigator into the Cessna 208B Caravan crash on Monday that killed 54-year-old Gabriele Cianetti, said Wednesday morning that plans to reach the location were still on a "weather hold" due to reduced visibility and obscured mountaintops.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that Cianetti was the sole occupant of the plane and was on a mail flight from Port Heiden to Perryville. An emergency locator transmitter signal from the Cessna was received at about 2 p.m. Monday.

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Roughly four hours later, a Coast Guard helicopter crewman found Cianetti dead at the crash site, in mountainous terrain about 8 miles south of Chignik Lake at an altitude of about 3,000 feet.

The NTSB was gathering information Wednesday on the Caravan's radio traffic and any radar track of the aircraft during the fatal flight, Price said. The single-engine, nine-seat plane was carrying roughly 1,300 pounds of Priority Mail when it went down.

Price, along with Alaska State Troopers, the Coast Guard and members of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, were preparing for a Thursday attempt to reach the site, an effort complicated by several factors related to the crash location.

"The first is the distance from any fuel — there are no airports with fuel in the area," Price said. "It requires a helicopter to access it, and helicopters don't have much fuel capacity."

In addition, the crash site is covered in deep, wet snow and may be on a 50-degree incline — elements that led to the mountain rescue group's involvement.

"It takes some technical expertise, we believe, to access the site," Price said.

The NTSB ultimately hopes to remove the wreckage from the scene for a full inspection by investigators, Price said, as well as by representatives from Cessna and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney.