A Bering Air plane carrying 10 people vanished less than an hour after it took off at 2:37 p.m. from Unalakleet in western Alaska yesterday.
Bering Air Flight 445 had 9 passengers aboard and one pilot, who contacted air traffic control in Anchorage about 10 minutes before he was supposed to land in the small city of Nome. But after announcing that he would enter a holding pattern to wait for a runway to clear, "the aircraft disappeared," according to The Independent.
"The plane's exact location is still unknown. We continue to expand search efforts to as many avenues as possible until the plane is located," the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a statement later on Thursday.
From The Independent:
Light snow and freezing drizzle were seen around Nome Airport on Thursday evening, at its worst leaving visibility down to only half a mile. Wind gusts up to 35 mph were forecast overnight.
The Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force stepped in with flights planned to scope out the area and attempt to locate the missing aircraft.
The C-130 Coast Guard plane is equipped with specialized search and rescue equipment enabling the location of objects and people in low-to-no visibility conditions, officials said. The aircraft is due to fly a grid pattern over the nearby shoreline and water.
It's been a horrible two weeks for small flights, with the recent Med Jets plane crash in Philadelphia that killed six, followed by the American Airlines—Black Hawk helicopter crash over the Potomac River that killed 67. Hopefully search and rescue teams will find this one intact, with 10 survivors on board.
Previously:
• At least 6 feared dead in Philadelphia plane crash
• U.S. Figure Skater athletes on board the deadly American Airlines flight
