Posted on 02/07/25
| News Source: WSJ
Authorities in Alaska are searching for a commercial passenger plane that went missing in freezing, windy conditions over the Bering Sea, the third major U.S. aviation incident in the past 10 days.
The single-engine plane operated by regional carrier Bering Air had nine passengers and a pilot on board when its position was lost at around 3:20 p.m. local time Thursday, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
The Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and National Guard were involved in an air and land search for the plane, which was roughly 12 miles offshore when its position was lost, authorities said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was trying to track the passengers through their cellphones, according to the local fire department.
The incident comes just over a week after 67 people were killed in a midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk army helicopter in Washington, D.C. Two days later, seven people died when a medical transport jet crashed in a fiery explosion near a mall in northeast Philadelphia. The recent crashes have stirred fears among some fliers.
The missing plane was traveling from the city of Unalakleet to Nome, across the Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of Alaska. The flight usually takes less than an hour.
The plane departed Unalakleet, a small fishing village with a population of around 800 people, on schedule at 2:38 p.m. local time, according to flight data. After making its way west across the Norton Sound, the pilot told air-traffic controllers in Anchorage that he intended to enter a holding pattern while they waited for the runway at Nome to be cleared.
The temperature in the Nome area was around 9 degrees at the time with light snow, gusty winds and limited visibility, according to the National Weather Service.