ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing an on Alaska commuter plane crash (all times local):
4 p.m.
The director of operations for an Alaska commuter airline involved in a fatal crash last year says the company would prefer to make all flights with instrument rules.
But Luke Hickerson of Hageland Aviation says that’s impossible because rural Alaska lacks basic infrastructure to allow instrument flights.
Hickerson testified under oath Thursday in Anchorage at a rare National Transportation Safety Board hearing outside of Washington, D.C.
The NTSB is investigating the crash of a Hageland flight on Oct. 2 on a mountain between the villages of Quinhagak (KWIN-ha-gahk) and Togiak (TOH-gee-ak). The crash killed two pilots and a passenger.
The pilots were operating under visual flight rules.
Instrument flight rules require certified weather information and many Alaska villages lack trained observers or equipment that can provide the information.
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12 p.m.
A National Transportation Safety Board hearing into a fatal Alaska commuter plane crash is focusing on warning equipment available to pilots and weather information available in remote parts of the state.
The NTSB is conducting an investigative hearing in Anchorage on an Oct. 2 crash near the village of Togiak that killed two pilots and a passenger on a Hageland Aviation flight.
The Hageland flight crashed into a mountain roughly 200 feet (61 meters) below its peak.
Early testimony focused in part on pilots’ use of the aircraft’s Terrain Avoidance and Warning System.
Hageland chief pilot Erin Witt says the system is sometimes disengaged because it sounds alarms when an aircraft drops to 700 feet (215 meters).
She says flying at an altitude of 500 feet to 700 feet (150 to 215 meters) between villages is routine.
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1 a.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigative hearing Thursday in Anchorage, Alaska, on a commercial airplane crash that killed two pilots and a passenger near a rural village.
The NTSB says it’s the first investigative hearing held outside of Washington, D.C., in nearly 20 years.
Board member Earl Weener in an announcement last month said holding the hearing in Alaska will help increase awareness of issues surrounding “controlled flight into terrain” accidents.
Controlled flight into terrain refers to accidents in which an airworthy aircraft is flown unintentionally into the ground.
That’s in contrast to accidents that occur because the aircraft is out of control because of mechanical failure or pilot error.
The board will gather sworn testimony but will not discuss the Oct. 2 crash near Togiak.
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