ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — A small charter plane crashed Thursday afternoon in western Alaska. All eight people on board died. Two were pilots and six were passengers. The plane left Anchorage and was landing at Cape Newenham, a radar station about 450 miles west of the city. Radar stations watch the sky over Alaska and keep track of planes flying near the border. The people on board worked at that station. Two of them worked for the Army Corps of Engineers. Nobody knows yet why the plane went down. The National Transportation Safety Board, the agency that investigates crashes, has started its work.
Why it matters: Alaska is so spread out that many towns can only be reached by small plane, so flying is part of ordinary life there.