Alaska plane crash kills eight near Cape Newenham radar site

A charter plane crashed near the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site in remote western Alaska on August 20, killing all eight people on board. The aircraft, a Cessna 441, was making a second attempt to land on a gravel runway during heavy fog when the accident occurred.

The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the pilots were flying solely by instruments because visibility was too poor to see the airstrip. The plane crashed approximately one-third of a mile from the runway in mountainous terrain. The passengers included two pilots, two employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and four contractors, two of whom were employed by Calista Brice.

The U.S. Air Force has identified 2nd Lt. Leah R. Borsich, a project programmer with the 611th Civil Engineer Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, as one of the victims. Military officials described her as a “positive leader” who served with “professionalism, compassion and purpose.”

The Cape Newenham site is a long-range radar facility that monitors airspace in the direction of Russia, North Korea, and China. The military has not specified the exact nature of the work being performed by the crew at the time of the crash.