Topline
Authorities are conducting a search for a Bering Air plane—which was flying to the coastal city of Nome, Alaska, with 10 people on board—after it was reported missing Thursday.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks towards a Bering Air single engine aircraft at the airport in Nome, Alaska, … [+]
Key Facts
In a dispatch issued on Thursday evening, Alaska State Troopers said they were contacted about an “overdue aircraft” at 4:00 p.m. AST and confirmed a Bering Air Caravan with 9 passengers and 1 pilot on board was missing.
The plane was flying from the Alaskan coastal city of Unalakleet to Nome—a flight that usually takes less than an hour.
The troopers said search and rescue crews were attempting to find the last known coordinates of the missing plane.
Citing the chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska office, the Anchorage Times reported that the NTSB was aware of the missing plane and was “monitoring the situation.”
In a series of updates on Facebook, the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said a specialized search and rescue C-130 Coast Guard plane had arrived in the area and was flying a “grid pattern over the water and shoreline in attempts to locate the plane.”
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What Does Flight Tracking Data Say About The Missing Plane?
Tracking data reported by FlightRadar24 showed the missing aircraft was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX propeller plane. The plane took off from Unalakleet at 2:38 p.m. local time and its last know position was broadcast 38 minutes later at 3:16 p.m. The plane was flying at 5,300 feet when its last known position was recorded and it appears to have covered more than 70% of the distance of the flight. The tracker also showed a Coast Guard C-130 conducting a low level search flight around Nome.
This is a developing story.
