Reduced visibility hampers Alaska plane wreckage effort

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Foggy and reduced visibility conditions delayed efforts to recover the wreckage of a sightseeing plane that crashed in southeast Alaska, killing six people, a National Transportation Safety Board official said.

Clint Johnson, chief of the agency’s Alaska region, said efforts to reach the site Sunday were called off due to poor conditions. The team planned to try again on Monday, he said.

“However long it takes, we will wait for the weather and wait patiently for it. But we're going to get this done,” he said.

The wreckage was in a rugged, steep area that is heavily forested, at 1,800 feet (549 meters) to 2,000 feet (609.6 meters) “up on the side of a mountain,” he said. The site is about 12 miles (19 miles) northeast of the small city of Ketchikan, Johnson said.

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

He described conditions at the accident site as having low 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.

Troopers and Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad members reached the crash scene in a chartered helicopter Saturday afternoon and recovered the bodies.

Kathleen Grayson,...