Fog slows recovery of airplane wreckage

JUNEAU, ALASKA >> Foggy, low-visibility conditions hampered efforts to recover the wreckage of a sightseeing plane that crashed in southeast Alaska, killing six people, though federal investigators remained hopeful they could reach the site Sunday, a National Transportation Safety Board official said.

The wreckage was in a rugged, steep area that is heavily forested, at 1,800 feet to 2,000 feet “up on the side of a mountain,” said Clint Johnson, chief of the agency’s Alaska region. The site is about 12 miles northeast of Ketchikan, Johnson said.

“Very challenging conditions,” Johnson said, adding that the wreckage would have to be removed by helicopter.

He said as of early Sunday afternoon that the team remained on a weather hold. He described conditions at the accident site as having low ceilings, reduced visibility and fog.

Investigators also were conducting interviews in Ketchikan, he said.

The flight was returning to Ketchikan on Thursday from a tour of Misty Fjords National Monument when it crashed, Johnson said.

The plane carried five passengers and the pilot. The Alaska State Troopers identified the pilot as Rolf Lanzendorfer, 64, of Cle Elum, Washington. Troopers identified the passengers as Mark Henderson, 69, and Jacquelyn Komplin, 60, both of Napa, California; Andrea McArthur, 55, and Rachel McArthur, 20, both of Woodstock, Georgia; and Janet Kroll, 77, of Mount Prospect, Illinois.