The third and final NTSB press conference on the plane crash in Soldotna was held late Wednesday afternoon in Anchorage.
NTSB Board member Earl Weener says a preliminary report will be issued in about a week. The full report will likely take a year before it is concluded.
The plane crashed on takeoff Sunday morning just off the Soldotna runway, killing all 10 people on board.
Weener says investigators are looking at a wide range of concerns. They now have the approximate body weights of the nine passengers and the pilot. They also have the invoices for the amount and type of supplies the plane was carrying and will compile an estimate of the total weight onboard.
Weener says the investigators are trying to determine the position of the controls at the time of impact. They do not believe wind shear was a problem. The aircraft was in a stall position with the right wing and nose down.
The plane’s condition was known to be excellent. Investigators are gathering information on what the plane’s activities had been during the 72 hours prior to Sunday’s crash.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
