The Bering Air Cessna Caravan, a single-engine turboprop, was heading from the village of Unalakleet to Nome — a distance of about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) — with nine passengers and a pilot on board when it disappeared Thursday afternoon over Alaska’s Norton Sound, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Radar forensic data provided by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol indicated that about 3:18 p.m. Thursday, the plane had “some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed," McIntyre-Coble said. "What that event is, I can't speculate to."
The Coast Guard is still treating the attempt to find the plane as a search and rescue operation, according to McIntyre-Coble, who said he was unaware of any distress signals from the aircraft. Planes carry an emergency locating transmitter. If exposed to seawater, the device sends a signal to a satellite, which then relays that message back to the Coast Guard to indicate an aircraft may be in distress. There have been no such messages received by the Coast Guard, McIntyre-Coble said.
All 10 people on board the plane were adults and the flight was a regularly scheduled commuter trip, said Lt. Ben Endres with the Alaska State Troopers.
The plane's disappearance marks the third major U.S. aviation mishap in eight days. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near the nation's capital on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground.
The Bering Air flight left Unalakleet at 2:37 p.m. Thursday, according to David Olson, director of operations for Bering Air. There was light snow and fog, with a temperature of 17 degrees (minus 8.3 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service.
Officials lost contact with the plane less than an hour later, Olson said Thursday. The Coast Guard said the plane went missing about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Nome. It was operating at its maximum passenger capacity, according to the airline’s description of the plane.
Most Alaska communities are not connected to the state's main road system, and airplanes are often the only option for travel of any distance in rural Alaska, particularly in winter. The region is prone to sudden snow squalls and high winds in the winter, and residents were told not to form their own search parties because the weather was too dangerous.
Local, state and federal agencies were assisting in the search effort, flying over stretches of ice-dotted waters and scouring miles of frozen tundra.
The National Guard was approved to fly a helicopter Friday morning, and the Coast Guard and others also were taking part in aerial search efforts. The Coast Guard planned to drop a buoy to help track the movement of sea ice, aiding the search, and a ground crew on snowmobiles was headed along the coast and farther inland.
Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska from hubs in Nome, Kotzebue and Unalakleet. Most destinations receive twice-daily scheduled flights Monday through Saturday. Two Bering Air planes appeared to be searching in a grid pattern just off the coastline Friday morning, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24.
Unalakleet is a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) southeast of Nome and 395 miles (about 640 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage. The village is on the Iditarod trail, route of the world's most famous sled dog race, during which mushers and their teams must cross the frozen Norton Sound.
Nome, a Gold Rush town, is just south of the Arctic Circle and is known as the ending point of the 1,000-mile (1,610-kilometer) Iditarod. The city of Nome said prayer vigils would be held Friday for those on board the plane, friends and family and those involved in search efforts.
Alaska's U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, issued statements about the missing plane on X, saying their thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, their families, rescuers and the Nome community. U.S. Rep. Nick Begich posted on X that he was ready to assist the community of Nome and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy “in any way we can.”
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Johnson reported from Seattle. Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed to this report.
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