Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - One of the two pilots of a refueling plane reported a fire on the plane shortly before it crashed and caught fire near Fairbanks, a federal aviation official said Wednesday. Both passengers died in this accident.

The pilot radioed an in-flight emergency shortly after takeoff, said Clint Johnson, director of the Alaska regional office for the National Transportation Safety Board. They were trying to return to Fairbanks International Airport when they lost contact.

The plane crashed about 11 kilometers outside of Fairbanks, hit a steep hill and slid down the slope towards the Tanana River. Alaska State Police said no survivors were found.

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The plane left Fairbanks shortly before 10 a.m. local time. The plane was carrying 3,200 gallons of heating fuel for Kobok, a small village of less than 200 people, about 480 kilometers northwest of Fairbanks.

The World War II-era DC-54 Skymaster, which had been converted into a cargo plane, also carried about 1,200 gallons of jet fuel, Johnson said.

Getting fuel to remote Alaskan villages is difficult and expensive due to the state's limited road system. The Alaska Northwest Territories Department announced that the price per gallon of heating fuel in Kobok in 2022 was US$15.45.

The Alaska Department of Energy stated that refueling to coastal communities is usually done by floating. However, in villages where there is no possibility of floating traffic or it is not economically viable, fuel is transported by air tankers. However, this method is also limited by sea or river freezing, water levels, or the availability of ice roads.

The plane belonged to Alaska Air Fuel Company based in Vesalia. Phone calls to the company have gone unanswered.

The names of the pilots have not been released.

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