Plane that crashed and killed 10 was part of Alaska’s air travel system, essential to daily life

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The commuter flight that crashed on Alaska sea ice last week, killing all 10 aboard, was part of the workhorse network of short-hop flights that people in the immense and rugged state rely on to get to medical appointments, attend work meetings, buy essential supplies or even travel to away sports games.

Two men were traveling to service a heat recovery system vital to a community’s water treatment plant. A retired teacher was headed to mentor other teachers. Another man was flying for a doctor’s appointment.

Alaska is so vast that a postage stamp placed in the middle of an average sheet of paper represents the area a person can reach by vessel, vehicle or train. There are limited roads outside the state’s population corridor, a 360-mile (224-kilometer) stretch from Anchorage to Fairbanks, leaving about 80% of communities isolated.

At a news conference Tuesday in Washington, D.C., federal officials stressed that flying is safe and cited improvements in accident rates in the state in recent years while also saying more needs to be made to address concerns raised by residents, including infrastructure problems like runway light outages and limited, reliable weather observation systems.

Alaska's varied terrain — ranging from mountains and glaciers to lakes, thick forests and seemingly endless tundra — can make flying challenging. But so, too, can rapidly changing weather conditions. Microclimates in some areas mean the weather at an airport, for example, can be much different than conditions just miles away.

“You have really rough weather in Alaska. If you need good weather information in any place in the 50 states, you need it in Alaska,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, adding that reliable telecommunications systems are also critical. He pledged to work with the state's congressional delegation and other federal agencies on a plan to further improve aviation safety.

For many residents, flying is the only way to connect to the outside world, said Dylan Blankenship, a spokesperson for the state transportation department.

“A mile road takes you a mile,” Blankenship said. “A mile runway will take you anywhere.”

Last week, the Bering Air single-engine turboprop that was part of that critical network crashed while traveling from Unalakleet to the hub community of Nome, a distance of about 150 miles (240 kilometers).

The aircraft was found on an ice floe in Norton Sound, southwest of Nome, the next day after an extensive search. The cause of the crash is still under investigation; the death toll of 10 makes it one of the deadliest plane crashes in the state in 25 years.

Among those aboard were Rhone Baumgartner, 46, and Kameron Hartvigson, 41. They had traveled to Unalakleet to service a heat recovery system vital to the community’s water plant, said their employer, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Talaluk Katchatag, 34, was traveling for medical care, his family said. Carol Mooers, 48, a school counselor in Unalakleet, was flying to pick up students to tour colleges in Anchorage and Juneau, according to an online fundraiser posted by her family.

Liane Ryan, of Wasilla, who spent 27 years as a teacher in south-central Alaska, was part of a teacher mentoring program that was providing help in Unalakleet.

On social media, Redington Junior/Senior High School, where Ryan formerly taught, remembered her as a “pillar of joy, positivity, and encouragement.”

“Each day, she brought a radiant and loving smile to her classroom, the halls, and the volleyball court at Redington; her influence will forever impact the students, athletes, and colleagues with whom she worked,” the post said.

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.

“Our hearts are heavy with grief as we process this heartbreaking news,” Bering Air said in a statement on its website. “At this time, our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy.”

The airline has received warm support from the residents who depend on it. In the days after the crash, they came out to greet pilots in Golovin, an Inupiat Eskimo village of about 160 people, and other rural communities, including Noatak and Teller.

Residents of Golovin gathered in the bitter cold and gusting winds to greet the pilot as he landed his plane and taxied in on packed snow to ferry residents to and from their daily errands and appointments.

Children and adults held cardboard hearts bearing slogans like, “We love Bering Air” and “Golovin loves you, Bering Air.”

“Everybody was in tears,” including the pilot, said Irene Navarro, a lifetime resident who livestreamed the greeting in Golovin on social media. “We just wanted to show our love and let them know that we’re still here and we’re still going to be a customer.”

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Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska. Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.