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Search Resumes For Plane That Crashed On Thunder Mountain In Denali National Park

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Published Date

August 6, 2018
A search-and-rescue operation was under way at Denali National Park for a plane that crashed/NPS

A flightseeing plane has been missing since Saturday evening, when it crashed into Thunder Mountain in Denali National Park/NPS photo of Thunder Mountain as seen from Thunder Glacier

Search-and-rescue crews returned to the skies over Denali National Park and Preserve on Monday in a bid to reach a flight-seeing plane that crashed near the summit of Thunder Mountain, a craggy, snow-coated ridge that tops out at nearly 11,000 feet.

The missing plane, a de Havilland Beaver operated by K2 Aviation, crashed Saturday evening about 6 p.m. while on a flight around the Kahiltna Glacier, a park release said. The craft, carrying four tourists from Poland plus the pilot, was heading southeast when it crashed near the summit of Thunder Mountain, which is roughly 14 miles southwest of the summit of Denali.

Thunder Mountain was described by the Park Service as more of a ridge than a mountain, stretching roughly a mile long from east to west and rising about 3,000 feet above both the Tokositna and Kahiltna Glaciers. Terrain in the vicinity of the crash site is characterized as extremely steep and a mix of near-vertical rock, ice and snow, the Park Service said.

The NPS high-altitude helicopter, along with an Air National Guard C-130 and two HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters, departed early Monday in a bid to reach the crash site. A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook from Fort Wainwright in Talkeetna was to launch as soon as possible. A ground crew onboard was to be dropped off at a glacier staging area to assist with rescue operations.

Names and hometowns of the passengers and pilot were not immediately released. The Park Service has been in contact with the Polish Consulate in Los Angeles.

On Sunday, flight crews with the Air National Guard patrolled the area in a C-130 and two HH-60 helicopters conducted aerial overflights of the accident zone, but search conditions were hampered by zero visibility and low cloud cover.

Crews were trying to reach Thunder Mountain on Monday/NPS locator map



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