NTSB Investigator
Brice Banning investigates the accident site of an ACE Air Cargo plane
that went down on Friday, March 08, 2013, killing pilot Jeff Day, 38 and
Neil Jensen, 21, both of Anchorage.
Larry Lewis - Alaska Newspapers
NTSB Identification: ANC13FA030
Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Friday, March 08, 2013 in Aleknagik, AK
Aircraft: BEECH 1900C, registration: N116AX
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On March 8, 2013, about 0814 Alaska standard time, a twin-engine turboprop Beech 1900C airplane, N116AX, was destroyed when it impacted rising terrain about 10 miles east of Aleknagik, Alaska. The airplane was operated as Flight 51, by Alaska Central Express, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska, as an on-demand cargo flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. The airline transport certificated captain and the commercial certificated first officer sustained fatal injuries. Instrument meteorological conditions were reported in the area at the time of the accident, and the airplane was operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The flight had originally departed Anchorage about 0544, and made a scheduled stop at King Salmon, Alaska, before continuing on to the next scheduled stop, Dillingham, Alaska.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel, as the airplane approached Dillingham, the flight crew requested the RNAV GPS 19 instrument approach to the Dillingham Airport about 0757 from controllers at the Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). The ARTCC specialist on duty subsequently granted the request by issuing the clearance, with instructions to proceed direct to the Initial Approach Fix (IAF) to begin the approach, and to maintain an altitude of 2,000 feet or above. A short time later the flight crew requested to enter a holding pattern at the IAF so that they could contact the Flight Service Station (FSS) for a runway conditions report, and the ARTCC specialist granted that request. The ARTCC specialist then made several attempts to contact the aircraft, but was unsuccessful and subsequently lost radar track on the aircraft.
When the airplane failed to arrive at the Dillingham Airport, ARTCC personnel initiated a radio search to see if the airplane had diverted to another airport. Unable to locate the airplane, the FAA issued an alert notice (ALNOT) at 0835. Search personnel from the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Air National Guard, and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with several volunteer pilots, were dispatched to conduct an extensive search effort.
Rescue personnel aboard an Air National Guard C-130 airplane tracked 406 MHz emergency locater transmitter (ELT) signal to an area of mountainous terrain about 20 miles north of Dillingham, but poor weather prohibited searchers from reaching the site until the next morning. Once the crew of a HH-60G helicopter from the Air National Guard's 210th Air Rescue Squadron, Anchorage, Alaska, reached the steep, snow and ice-covered site, they confirmed that both pilots sustained fatal injuries.
The closest official weather observation station is at the Dillingham Airport. At 0745, an aviation routine weather report (METAR) reported, in part: Wind from 100 degrees (true) at 17 knots with gusts to 30 knots; visibility, 7 statute miles in light rain; clouds and sky condition, 1,500 feet overcast; temperature, 34 degrees F; dew point, 34 degrees F; altimeter, 29.09 inHg.
On March 9, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge, along with an additional NTSB air safety investigator, and an FAA operations inspector from the Anchorage Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), examined the airplane wreckage at the accident site. A comprehensive wreckage examination and layout is pending following recovery efforts.
Neil Jensen
Obituary
Anchorage resident Neil Torvald Jensen died March 8, 2013, in a plane crash near Dillingham. A service will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Church at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. Neil was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but lived in Anchorage since the age of two years. He attended his neighborhood public schools and graduated from Robert Service High School in 2009. He enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and in three years received a BSc in Aeronautical Science, with honors. Last November he was hired for a First Officer position by Ace Air Cargo, piloting Beechcraft 1900s. The work was challenging, but he was fulfilled working alongside fellow pilots. Recreational time was spent skiing, hiking, and mountain biking. Close friendships were maintained with friends from college. Neil was unusually attentive to his extended family, his younger brother, and his older sister. His parents could not have been more pleased with Neil's integrity, compassion, dedication, creativity, and humor.
Read more here: http://www.legacy.com
The family of pilot Neil Jensen released this photo. Jensen, 21, was the First Officer in a cargo plane crash near Dillingham. Crews found the wreckage on Mar. 9, 2013 and said the bodies of Jensen and Capt. Jeff Day, 38 of Anchorage, were recovered.
(Peter and Shelly Jensen / March 9, 2013)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Alaska State Troopers say the bodies of two Anchorage pilots in a cargo plane crash near Dillingham were recovered Saturday morning by the Alaska Air National Guard.
AST identified the victims of the downed plane as Capt. Jeff Day, 38, and First Officer Neil Jensen, 21, both of Anchorage.
Troopers said that an Air National Guard HH-60 Pavehawk found the wreckage of a downed Beech 1900 plane around 6:00 a.m. Saturday. A helicopter crew recovered the bodies and flew them to Dillingham and then to Anchorage. The bodies were turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Jensen's father spoke with KTUU Channel 2 News Saturday afternoon.
"He loves being a pilot," said Peter Jensen, Neil's father. "He loves the other pilots he's working with and got a lot a of good advice from the captains."
Peter Jensen said his son recently graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona.
Weather conditions on Friday kept rescue crews from spotting the plane wreckage after troopers said the plane was expected to arrive in Dillingham Friday morning.
The cargo plane left King Salmon shortly before 8:00 a.m. Friday and the Rescue Coordination Center received an alert from the FAA of an overdue plane around a half-hour later. The Alaska National Guard said the plane had relayed radio communication that it was on approach to the Dillingham Airport.
Troopers said the “initial information is that the aircraft was flying instrument flight rules (IFR) and was cleared to land at the Dillingham airport and the aircraft never landed.”
Around 9:15 a.m. Friday, the Emergency Locator Beacon (ELT) began transmitting a signal. Troopers said the signal transmitted about 20 miles northeast of Dillingham in the the Muklung Hills.
In August 2010, former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others were killed in a DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter plane crash in the same region.
The National Transporation Safety Board arrived on scene Saturday morning after crews found the wreckage and spent most of the day investigating the scene. The next step is to recover the the airplane pieces, which broke into three main pieces spread over an extensive area, according to the NTSB.
"I think the odds of being in a fatal car accident are similar, so to me his death is tragic and I'll miss him a lot but it could have as easily been a car accident," said Peter Jensen.
Story and Reaction/Comments: http://www.ktuu.com
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/03/09/2818538/bodies-of-pilot-copilot-pulled.html#emlnl=Breaking_News#storylink=cpy
w-hanging clouds and snowfall prevented military rescuers from reaching a downed cargo plane in Southwest Alaska or learning the fate of its pilot and copilot by nightfall Friday.
The twin-engine Beechcraft 1900, owned by Ace Air Cargo, is thought to be on the ground about 20 miles northeast of Dillingham, where it went down while approaching the city's airport sometime before 8:30 a.m. Friday. An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter sent from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, about 330 miles away near Anchorage, hovered over the plane Friday afternoon but the chopper's crew could not see through the clouds, Air National Guard spokeswoman Kalei Rupp said. The helicopter and a plane supporting it left the area at about 4 p.m. to refuel and were back searching as of 7 p.m., Rupp said.
Because they had been unable to see the terrain below them, it was too dangerous to attempt a landing or lower rescuers to the ground, Rupp said.
"Our crews got on scene but the cloud ceiling is very low," she said. "They can't see the ground to assess the situation."
Rupp said fresh teams on another helicopter and plane would likely be sent to take over for the search personnel working late Friday, if needed.
Ace Air Cargo said a pilot and copilot were on board the Beechcraft. A weather station at the airport reported light rain and snow about the time the plane went down, with wind at 17 mph gusting to 26 mph and seven miles visibility.
The Beechcraft's pilot radioed the Dillingham airport to say the plane was approaching for a landing Friday morning, according to spokespeople for the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Air National Guard. At about 8:30 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert that the plane had not landed, Rupp said. An emergency locator beacon on the plane indicated it was about 20 miles northeast of Dillingham, Rupp said.
The plane is down in the Muklung Hills, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. A plane crash in the same area in 2010 killed five people, including former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
An Alaska state trooper trying to reach the plane on a snowmachine had to turn back to Dillingham because of the poor weather, Peters said. Others, including firefighters and medics gearing up to head out for a search, stayed in Dillingham, she said.
"It's in mountainous terrain and the weather's bad," Peters said. "They have very wet snow and thick fog."
At about 11:30 a.m., the Air National Guard's Rescue Coordination Center in Anchorage dispatched an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter with a rescue team on board and an HC-130 Hercules refueling plane carrying another team, Rupp said. The Coast Guard also sent an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter with rescuers from Kodiak, she said.
It's unclear if the downed cargo plane crashed or made an emergency landing. Rupp said she was unaware of any radio traffic from the pilot or copilot.
"Once it makes contact and says it's on approach, if it doesn't land within a certain amount of time, the FAA puts out an overdue-aircraft alert. So that's what triggered that," Rupp said. "Since nobody has actually gotten to the site or seen the site, we don't necessarily know if the plane has crashed or what."
The Coast Guard helicopter arrived first and was relieved by the Air National Guard chopper about 2 p.m., Rupp said. The low-hanging clouds and, later, snowfall made it impossible to see anything on the ground, she said.
While satellites showed the general location of the plane's beacon, the searchers could not pick up its signal while flying above the area, Rupp said. That could be due to terrain blocking the signal or damage to the beacon, she said.
About 4 p.m., the Pave Hawk flew to Dillingham to refuel and the Hercules went to King Salmon to do the same, Rupp said. They planned to continue searching into Friday night.
Source: http://www.adn.com
