Missing plane in Alaska: What we know about the Bering Air flight, search
The search continues Friday for a small plane that went missing in Alaska, with 10 people on board.
The Bering Air flight was traveling from the village of Unalakleet to Nome when it was reported missing at around 4 p.m. local time Thursday, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Troopers.
Nine passengers and one pilot were reportedly on board.
Here’s what we know about the incident.
Missing Alaska plane location
According to live flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane’s last known position was over the water, 38 minutes after leaving Unalakleet, which is typically less than an hour's flight from Nome.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said during a media briefing on Friday that radar forensic data from the Civil Air Patrol showed the plane had "experienced some kind of event which caused a loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed" around 3:18 p.m. Thursday, but could not speculate what the event was. An "item of interest" was identified by another aircraft during the search, he added, but did not yet have additional details to share.
Officials said the plane was operating a regular commuter flight, and that all people onboard were adults.
The U.S. Coast Guard Alaska said on X, formerly Twitter, the plane was 12 miles offshore when its location was lost. "The aircraft’s last known position was transponded Thursday evening in the vicinity of Norton Sound, approximately 30 miles southeast of Nome," the Coast Guard added in a news release.
"The pilot of the plane told Anchorage Air Traffic Control that he intended to enter a holding pattern while waiting for the runway to be cleared,” Nome Volunteer Fire Department posted on its Facebook page Thursday night.
Alaska flight search
Multiple agencies are involved with search and rescue efforts by ground and air.
"USCG Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules aircrew searched the area between Nome and White Mountain with negative results," the Coast Guard said on X late Friday morning. "A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew is en route to the location from Cold Bay."
The passengers' families have been notified, the fire department added.
Bering Air
Bering Air is a family-owned airline headquartered in Nome. Its website says it’s been operating since 1979 and offers scheduled regional service, charter flights and cargo transport. That includes scheduled service to both Nome and Unalakleet, which are about 150 miles apart in western Alaska, by the Bering Sea.
As with numerous Alaska villages and cities, there are no roads connecting the two. Over 80% of Alaska’s villages rely on air taxi and commuter operators as their main link, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Nome, Alaska
Nome is famous for being a gold rush town and the end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
The city of roughly 3,700 people is only accessible by dog sled, snowmobile, water and plane, according to the Nome Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Unalakleet, Alaska
Travel Alaska’s website describes Unalakleet as the southernmost Iñupiaq village in Alaska. It has a population of around 800 people.
The village is only accessible by plane, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Missing plane model
The missing plane was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX with tail number N321BA, according to FlightRadar24.
Cessna’s website says, “The Grand Caravan® EX turboprop was engineered for challenging missions, high payloads and short, rough runways while delivering single-engine economy and simplicity.”
Bering Air operates both planes and helicopters.
Alaska plane crashes
It's too soon to say what happened to the missing plane, but Alaska has a disproportionate number of air taxi and commuter incidents relative to the rest of the U.S.
Of the 1,874 such incidents across the country between 1990 and 2015, more than a third of those were in Alaska, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. “They also accounted for more than 20% of the fatal events and deaths in the U.S.,” according to NIOSH.
Contributing: Reuters
This story was updated to add new information.