Alaska crash searchers find more plane debris
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Latest recovery of black box recorder from missing Alaska plane (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
The owner of an air ambulance that disappeared in Alaska with three people on board says searchers have found its tail assembly, propeller blades and fragmented fuselage.
Guardian Flight spokesman Jim Gregory says the aircraft pieces were discovered Tuesday by an underwater search team commissioned by the company.
The Utah-based firm says searchers estimate as much as 90 percent of the plane has been found scattered over a large debris field in the waters of Frederick Sound.
The company plans to recover major pieces that could be useful in the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Guardian Flight also said searchers recovered the plane’s black box recorder and located the engine and some landing gear of the King Air 200.
The search for the three people on the plane is continuing. The pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic on board were Guardian Flight employees.
The plane disappeared Jan. 29 on its way to pick up a patient in the southeast community of Kake.
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11:40 a.m.
Federal accident investigators say they’re looking at options for recovering aircraft parts found in the search area for air ambulance that disappeared in Alaska with three people on board in January.
Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board in Alaska, says the plane’s black box recorder was recovered Monday evening during a search for the missing King Air 200 commissioned by Guardian Flight, the Utah-based company that owns the missing plane.
He says there also are plans to ultimately recover a landing gear and engine also were located in the same waters of Fredrick Sound, but adds those plans may change.
Johnson says an NTSB investigator is on board the recovery boat at the southeast Alaska site and has possession of the black box, also known as a cockpit voice recorder.
The plane disappeared with three Guardian Flight employees Jan. 29 flying to pick up a patient in the southeast community of Kake.
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8:50 a.m.
The owners of an air ambulance that disappeared in Alaska with three people on board in January say searchers have recovered the plane’s black box recorder.
Guardian Flight officials said Tuesday that a landing gear and engine of the King Air 200 also were located in the waters of Fredrick Sound, but they have not been recovered.
The company, based in Utah, says it continues its search for the three people on the plane. It disappeared Jan. 29 flying to pick up a patient in the southeast community of Kake.
The pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic were Guardian Flight employees.
The Coast Guard searched hundreds of square miles (kilometers) before suspending its search Jan. 31.
An aircraft wing and other debris were found at the search site.