Aviation

The 747 has taken on numerous roles — a cargo plane, a commercial aircraft capable of carrying nearly 500 passengers, and the Air Force One presidential aircraft — since it debuted in 1969.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the absence of cable markings is part of its investigation into the November crash that killed 46-year-old Palmer resident Joshua Seagrave.

Most recently, five cruise passengers and the pilot died in August 2021 when a Southeast Aviation de Havilland DHC-2 crashed returning to Ketchikan from Misty Fjords National Monument.

Snowmachiners shuttled seven people from the wreck to a plane on a nearby lake so they could continue to Bethel, Yute Commuter Service said.

Raisbeck Engineering was leasing the Cessna Grand Caravan 208B EX from Copper Mountain Aviation to collect “baseline aircraft performance data,” according to a statement from the Raisbeck president, Hal Chrisman.

The aircraft was owned by Copper Mountain Aviation of Alaska, according to the FAA website.

Killed in the crash was Bryan Schwartz, owner of Bethel-based Nunak Air Taxi, a charter service that operated as Friendship Air.

The 46-year-old pilot and Army veteran was the only person in the plane when it went down in the river, Alaska State Troopers said.

A second aircraft in the area witnessed the plane hit a cable and crash into the river, Alaska State Troopers said.

The plane, a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter turboprop, crashed into the Puget Sound just off Whidbey Island in early September. The pilot and all nine passengers were killed.

Longtime Brooks Range wilderness guide Jerald Stansel died in an October crash at a Fairbanks marina.

The plane was owned by Nunak Air Taxi, which operates as Friendship Air. The Bethel-based company announced it will close in the wake of the crash.

The vote comes after airline management and the leadership of its pilot union agreed to a tentative deal in September, which included pay raises and new work rules that would increase schedule flexibility.

The pilot took off Sunday from Yakutat. Officials had not reached the site by Monday morning due to weather and darkness, officials say.

Jerald Stansel, 75, died in the crash near Fairbanks on Wednesday afternoon. The NTSB is investigating.

Across the country, flight attendants and airport workers are responding a hailstorm of workplace issues related to pay and staffing levels.

The Cessna 180A flown by Janell Rude was fully submerged in Whiskey Lake when first responders arrived on Sunday afternoon, Alaska State Troopers said.

A pilot just hired by Yute Commuter Service departed in weather below the company’s operating procedures because limitations were not communicated between managers, said the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Federal Aviation Administration refused to grant an exemption to safety rules with potentially far-reaching implications.

The commission issued a “reasonable cause finding” of discrimination against the airline over the enforcement of its uniform policy in which flight attendants are forced to conform to a rigid set of gendered dress and grooming standards.

The pilot, who died in the crash, was involved in a different incident a month earlier, federal investigators say.

The 57-year-old pilot and his 12-year-old passenger were treated at an Anchorage hospital for minor injuries, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

The crash involved a hangar, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska chief for the National Transportation Safety Board.