NTSB: Pilot in deadly Southwest Alaska radar site crash made last-minute attempt to land at alternate airport

Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News on Sep 17, 2026

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The flight crew of a Cessna 441 that crashed at a remote Bering Sea coastal radar site last month tried to land at another airport after missing a landing approach in heavy fog, according to the first National Transportation Safety Board report on the Aug. 20 crash.

But after getting no response via radio, the crew tried a second approach at Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport, with a notorious, sloping runway hemmed in by rocky terrain.

The government-chartered Security Aviation aircraft crashed near the runway on the second landing attempt, killing both pilots and all six passengers.

The seven-page preliminary report released this week includes summaries of interviews with two technicians working at the radar site who described near-zero visibility at the time of the crash. It also summarizes communications with air-traffic controllers as well as data received from the plane that pinpoints its movements.

The radar site is a Cold War-era facility now managed by the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center, part of a network that tracks aircraft in Alaska’s airspace and along its borders.

The plane was chartered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. All six passengers were traveling to Cape Newenham to support the radar site, with duties including routine maintenance and inspection of a new fire suppression system.

The flight, piloted by flight captain Dave Furber and first officer Sergei Zelenkov II, left Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport just before 9:15 a.m. Aug. 20. At the time, reported weather conditions at Cape Newenham indicated 10 miles of visibility and an 800-foot cloud ceiling, according to the new NTSB report.

The plane neared Cape Newenham within about an hour. The remote radar site, one of 15 across Alaska, is roughly 450 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Controllers cleared the flight for approach just before 10:30 a.m., according to the report. But the pilots asked to start a holding pattern instead.

Just after 11 a.m., the crew got clearance to start a landing approach but 15 minutes later told controllers they were “executing a missed approach,” according to the report. Ten minutes later, the crew told controllers the weather had improved and requested another approach.

For the next seven minutes, the crew and controllers coordinated the best route for the landing approach, according to the NTSB report. Controllers cleared them to go in around 11:35 a.m.

By then, the weather had worsened: An automated weather report showed a quarter-mile visibility, patches of fog, and overcast conditions at 300 feet, the report said.

The plane crashed at about 11:45 a.m.

One technician at the site told investigators he was unable to check the airstrip for wildlife and other hazards as the Security Aviation flight approached “because of thick fog that blanketed the runway,” lead investigator Eric Gutierrez wrote in the new report.

Another technician described watching the visibility decrease through the morning, according to the report.

Before Security Aviation’s first approach, the technician told investigators, fog obscured a reference point just under 2 miles away.

Following the missed approach, the flight crew told the technician “they were going to attempt to land at Platinum Airport” about 23 miles to the north, Gutierrez wrote. The technician said he could initially see patches of blue sky in that direction, but visibility at Cape Newenham had worsened.

“Several minutes later, the flight crew reestablished radio contact with the technician, stating that they had been unable to contact (Platinum) on the radio and wanted to perform a second approach to (Cape Newenham),” Gutierrez wrote. “The technician stated that, by the time the airplane had begun its second approach ... he could no longer see the runway.”

The technician described hearing the plane’s engines throttle up before what sounded like a backfire, followed by silence.

He, along with other site personnel, began to search for the plane and found the fire-scorched, fractured wreckage west of the approach end of the runway, according to the report.

A final NTSB report including a probable cause finding isn’t expected to be released until next year.

Along with a team of NTSB investigators, others participating in the investigation include representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration, Security Aviation, the U.S. Air Force. and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

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