Cessna 441 Crash Kills USACE Workers in Alaska

A twin-engine Cessna 441 Conquest II crashed while approaching Cape Newenham Long-Range Radar Station Airport (PAEH) in western Alaska on Thursday with eight people aboard, the FAA confirmed in a post on X, adding that the aircraft had departed Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (PANC) bound for Cape Newenham. 

The aircraft, registered N128EZ, was operated by Security Aviation on a charter for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the agency’s Alaska District said in a statement. “We have received confirmation that the two USACE employees onboard were fatalities,” the statement said. As of Friday morning, officials had not confirmed the fate of the others aboard the aircraft, although news reports said all onboard did not survive.

Flight-tracking data show the aircraft’s last recorded position at approximately 11:45 a.m. local time, following a gap in ADS-B coverage; the FAA said the accident occurred around 12:15 p.m. Data show the aircraft had entered a holding pattern east of the airport before beginning its approach shortly after 11 a.m.

Automated weather observations at the airport showed a quarter-mile visibility in fog around the time the aircraft entered its holding pattern. Conditions improved by 11:29 a.m., with visibility reaching 10 miles as the aircraft began its approach, before fog returned and visibility dropped back to a quarter-mile by 11:49 a.m., four minutes after the aircraft’s last recorded position at 11:45 a.m. 

PAEH is a United States Air Force airstrip, although it is currently not staffed by military personnel. The airport has a weather station and one gravel runway, Runway 15/33, and is not open to the general public. The NTSB is investigating the accident.