Update, 5:45 a.m. Monday: Alaska State Troopers early Monday identified the second plane as a Cessna 172, flown by 27-year-old Cole Hagge, of Eagle River. In an online dispatch, troopers wrote that the two planes collided about 100 feet above the runway. Hagge was the only person injured in the collision, troopers said. He was taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to be treated for injuries that troopers said were not life-threatening. Troopers identified the pilot of the Cessna 185 as 32-year-old Antonio Benavides, of Anchorage.
Original story:
Two planes, including an air taxi carrying four passengers, collided while attempting to land at the Talkeetna Airport on Sunday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Injuries were reported in the crash, though details weren't immediately available about how many people were hurt or the extent of their injuries.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were en route to the scene Sunday night, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Shaun Williams, based in Anchorage. He said the NTSB got the call shortly after 5:30 p.m. that two planes had collided in the small community about two hours' drive north of Anchorage.
Williams said that preliminary information indicated that the two planes -- one privately operated aircraft and one Cessna 185 operated by Talkeetna Air Taxi, which conducts flightseeing trips around nearby Mt. McKinley -- were both attempting to land when they crashed.
Williams didn't know how many people were in the privately owned aircraft, though he said he believed it was only the pilot. It was also unclear Sunday night exactly what type of aircraft was being flown by the private pilot.
"We're getting conflicting reports," Williams said. "What we got initially doesn't match what we got recently."
The FAA was handling the initial on-scene investigation and information gathering, Williams said, and investigators planned to speak with the four passengers aboard the Talkeetna Air Taxi flight and the pilots in an attempt to determine what happened.
Alaska State Troopers also responded to the crash.