Commuter Plane With 8 Aboard Crashes Into Alaska Home; 6 Killed

A commuter plane carrying eight people lost power in one of its two engines after takeoff Wednesday and crashed into a house, killing five passengers and the pilot, authorities said.

The survivors were flown to a hospital in Anchorage, about 70 miles away, for treatment of severe burns. The house, owned by an elderly couple, was gutted by fire sparked by the crash.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Paul Steucke said the pilot of the Southcentral Air plane reported an engine failure after taking off from Kenai Airport and circled to attempt an emergency landing. The plane went down a half-mile from the airport.

Wife Knocked Off Couch

Walt Peteet said he was in his bedroom when the plane hit another part of the house. His wife, Esther, was knocked off of a couch by the impact.

“I think the tail hit,” Peteet said. “There was a hell of an explosion . . . . We got out through the front door. It was terrible to get out through the fumes and smoke. God knows how we got out.”

Police Sgt. Roger Dorcas said the two survivors from the plane climbed from the burning wreckage and made their way out of the house to the yard.

One of the survivors and three of the dead were Arco Alaska Inc. employees on their way to Anchorage to make a connection for the Kuparuk oil field on the North Slope, an Arco spokeswoman said.