Three people were killed Monday night when a small plane crashed and caught fire while trying to land at a remote airstrip outside McCarthy, authorities said.
Troopers said they were notified at 9:36 p.m. Monday about a crash at the Dan Creek airstrip, the Department of Public Safety said in an online statement. The strip is about 15 to 20 miles east of McCarthy in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains.
The plane, a Piper PA-22-150 flying as a non-commercial flight, had a pilot and two passengers on board, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was headed from McCarthy to Dan Creek, said troopers spokesperson Nastazia Nogacki.
The crash happened during the landing, said Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska regional office. According to the FAA log, the aircraft banked left while landing, hit the ground and caught fire.
The crash was seen by one or two witnesses who reported it to troopers, Nogacki and Johnson said. The post-crash fire destroyed much of the aircraft, Johnson said, and the three people on board were dead when witnesses reached the site.
Troopers flew to the site at about 6 a.m. Tuesday and found human remains in the wreckage, according to the statement. The remains are being sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy and positive identification, troopers said.
Two of the people on board have been identified by family as local pilot Jason Lobo and 23-year-old Anadyr Elliott. Randy Elliott, Anadyr’s father, confirmed her identity. The third person on board has not been publicly identified.