ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board says a pilot flying in the area of this week’s Alaska plane crash that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens and four others has estimated that clouds were as low as 600 feet.
Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference Saturday afternoon that that is well below previous estimates of between 1,000 and 2,000 feet.
Hersman says the pilot also told investigators that visibility was between five to seven miles at the time of the crash.
The cause of Monday’s crash on a remote mountainside in southwest Alaska hasn’t been determined. Investigators have spoken with two of the four survivors, and one survivor has told officials he didn’t hear any unusual engine sounds right before the plane went down.
