Troopers identify plane crash victims

  • By Rachel D'oro
  • Wednesday, April 9, 2014 9:19pm
  • News

ANCHORAGE — The remains of two pilots have been found in the wreckage of a small commercial plane that crashed during a training flight near a southwest Alaska town, state troopers said Wednesday.

The pilots who died in the crash Tuesday afternoon near Bethel were identified as Derrick Cedars, 42, of Bethel, and Greggory McGee, 46, of Anchorage. They were the only two on board.

The burned wreckage of the Cessna 208 operated by Hageland Aviation was found near Three Step Mountain about 2 ½ hours later. The crash occurred in clear and calm weather about 30 miles southeast of Bethel, Hageland spokesman Steve Smith said.

It’s too early to say what caused the plane to go down, said Clint Johnson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation of the crash. NTSB investigations look at weather, pilot error and mechanical problems as possible causes.

“It’s in the very, very preliminary stages,” Johnson said of the investigation into Tuesday’s crash. “Everything is on the table at this point.”

Also not immediately clear is whether there were any radio communications between the plane and pilots in the area. There also were no immediate reports of anything recorded by a Federal Aviation Administration control tower or a flight service station, Johnson said.

Troopers flew to the scene by helicopter after the plane was reported overdue, and a local pilot spotted the burning wreckage, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Responders found the remains of the men in the wreckage.

Johnson said he didn’t know who was flying the Cessna when it crashed. Neither does Hageland, Smith said.

“This was a training flight, unfortunately until the crash site is completely reviewed there is no way to determine who was at the controls,” he wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The NTSB also is investigating the crash of another Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 last November. Four people were killed and six others were injured in the crash of that commuter flight outside the southwest Alaska village of Saint Marys. A preliminary NTSB report said the plane had diverted course because of deteriorating weather.

An NTSB investigator was en route Wednesday to Bethel, 425 miles west of Anchorage. The NTSB also was sending a helicopter to the town, said Johnson, who added that the chopper will be used to transport an investigative team to the wreckage site no later than Thursday morning. After the initial on-scene investigation is completed, the helicopter will be used to recover the wreckage and take it back to Bethel, said Johnson, who added that ultimately, the wreckage will probably be transported to Anchorage.

Also part of the investigative team are the FAA, the Cessna’s operator and Cessna Aircraft, which was sending a technical expert to Alaska from Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday, Johnson said.

Cedars is survived by his wife and two children, and McGee is survived by his wife, Hageland said.

“When you have a family as close as ours at Hageland Aviation, you hope you never receive this sort of news,” Hageland President Jim Hickerson said in a prepared statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Greggory and Derrick as well as those who have had a chance to work with them.”

Hageland Aviation is part of Ravn Alaska.

Follow Rachel D’Oro at —https://twitter.com/rdoro

More in News

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Senior Prom King and Queen Dennis Borbon and Lorraine Ashcraft are crowned at the 2023 High Roller Senior Prom at Aspen Creek Senior Living in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.
Senior prom crowns king and queen

In brainstorming options, the concept of putting on a prom turned some heads

A photo distributed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a man who allegedly robbed the Global Credit Union branch located in Anchorage, Sept. 19, 2023. Tyler Ching, 34, was arrested last week on charges related to robberies at the credit union and an Anchorage bank. (Photo courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Alleged bank robber arrested in Cooper Landing

An Anchorage resident was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in… Continue reading

A seal rescued earlier this summer by the Alaska SeaLife Center awaits release on the North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
2nd harbor seal release draws large crowds

The seals were Pierogi, Pringle and Belle de Fontenay

Attendees search the waters of the Kenai River for sightings of Cook Inlet belugas during Belugas Count! at the Kenai Bluff Overlook in Kenai, Alaska on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Belugas Count! celebrated in Kenai

At a viewing station on Kenai’s bluff overlook, dozens gathered and peered out over the Kenai River during a morning session

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Elizabeth Hayes, left, gives a presentation on the school district’s FY23 budget at Soldotna High School on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. Hayes during the KPBSD Board of Education’s Sept. 11, 2023, meetings, debuted first of an informational “Budget 101 Series.” (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School district warns of looming $13 million deficit in first ‘Budget 101’ presentation

The first installment explored Alaska’s foundation formula

Clockwise from bottom left: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska Division Commander Col. Jeff Palazzini, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel, Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor participate in a signing ceremony for a project partnership agreement for the Kenai Bluff Stabilization Project at the Kenai Senior Center on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Bluff stabilization agreement signed

The agreement allows the project to go out to bid and construction to begin

Lyndsey Bertoldo, Penny Vadla and Jason Tauriainen participate in a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School board candidates tackle budget deficits, home-schooling, school maintenance

The discussion was the first of two forums featuring KPBSD school board candidates

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Brad Snowden and Julie Crites participate in a Seward City Council candidate forum at the Seward Community Library in Seward on Thursday.
Seward council candidates discuss issues at election forum

Participating in Thursday’s forum were Julie Crites and Brad Snowden

Cam Choy, associate professor of art at Kenai Peninsula College, works on a salmon sculpture in collaboration with the Kenai Watershed Forum during the Kenai River Festival at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 8, 2019. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Soldotna adopts arts and culture master plan

The plan outlines how the city plans to support arts and culture over the next 10 years

Most Read