The Latest: Remote location hinders Alaska crash inquiry

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Latest on a fatal commercial airplane crash in southwest Alaska (all times local):

10:30 a.m.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigator says the remote location of a fatal plane crash in southwest Alaska is adding to the difficulty of the investigation.

Aviation accident investigator Noreen Price says weather is marginal at the crash site 8 miles south of the village of Chignik Lake on the Alaska Peninsula.

Chignik Lake is 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The NTSB is working with Alaska State Troopers to reach the site and recover the body of a pilot flying alone Monday on a Grant Aviation flight between Port Heiden and Perryville.

The name of the pilot has not been released.

Price says a lack of nearby aviation resources will also make reaching the site more difficult.

The Coast Guard found the wreckage at 3,000 feet on the mountain’s west side.

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10 a.m.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a crash that killed a pilot flying alone on a small commercial airplane in southwest Alaska.

Aviation accident investigator Noreen Price says the Grant Aviation Cessna 208B left Port Heiden at 1:05 p.m. Monday on a flight to Perryville.

The Coast Guard at 2 p.m. received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter and sent a Jayhawk helicopter and C-130 airplane to investigate.

The Coast Guard found the wreckage at 6 p.m.

A rescue crewman confirmed that the pilot had died. The pilot’s name has not been released.

The wreckage is at 3,000 feet on a mountainside 8 miles south of Chignik Lake.

The NTSB is working with Alaska State Troopers to reach the site and recover the body.