April 09--Two pilots were killed Tuesday night when a small Cessna crashed and burned near Bethel, authorities said.
The Alaska State Troopers said Derrick Cedars, 42, of Bethel, and Greggory McGee, 46, of Anchorage, were on a training flight at the time of the crash. The plane was a Cessna 208 Caravan operated by Hageland Aviation, a spokesman for Ravn Alaska, Hageland's parent company, said in a statement.
No passengers were on board.
About 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, the plane was reported overdue in the Three Step Mountain area, Megan Peters, troopers spokeswoman, wrote in an email. Within an hour, a local pilot spotted burning wreckage near a fishing weir.
The Alaska Army Guard in Bethel sent a Black Hawk helicopter with local firefighters and Alaska State Troopers in response, Peters wrote. The responders found a "large debris field" at the crash site and willow trees charred and burned, she said.
The remains of the pilots were found in the wreckage, and next-of-kin have been notified, Peters said.
Troopers planned to return to the crash site Wednesday to assist in the recovery effort, Peters said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash. An investigator with the NTSB office in Anchorage was en route to the site Wednesday morning, said Clint Johnson, NTSB spokesman.
The NTSB will be joined at the crash site Wednesday by a representative from Ravn Alaska, a Federal Aviation Administration investigator in Bethel and a Cessna aircraft investigator, Johnson said.
On Nov. 29, a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 crashed near the village of St. Marys in Southwest Alaska. The NTSB is also investigating that crash, which killed four people and injured six.
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Reach Devin Kelly at [email protected] or 257-4314.
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