Eight killed as chartered Cessna 441 crashes near Alaska radar site

A chartered turboprop crashed on approach to a remote radar installation in western Alaska on August 20, 2026, killing all eight people aboard. The aircraft, a 1979 Cessna 441 Conquest II registered N128EZ, went down on land near Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport at around 12:15 local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane had left Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport with two pilots and six passengers. Rescue crews who reached the site found no survivors.

The US Army Corps of Engineers said it had chartered the flight and that two of its employees were among the dead. The agency has not released their names or said why they were traveling. Its Alaska District said it was working with local, state and federal authorities on the response.

The aircraft belonged to Security Aviation, an Anchorage-based charter operator that flies a fleet of Conquest II turboprops around the state. The company says the pressurized aircraft can seat up to nine people and cruise near 285 knots.

Clint Johnson, who heads the National Transportation Safety Board's Alaska office, told local media the aircraft was on approach to Cape Newenham when the accident happened. The airstrip is a private US Air Force facility about 450 miles west of Anchorage that serves a long-range radar station monitoring air traffic near the state's borders.

Its runway is a single gravel strip roughly 3,945 feet long, built on a mountain slope with a rise of more than 300 feet from end to end. FAA guidance for the airport notes high terrain flanking the runway and warns pilots about the approach.

An investigation into the crash is underway.