NTSB to examine engine after emergency landing of flightseeing plane in Denali National Park

PALMER — Federal investigators say they plan to take a close look at the engine of a flightseeing plane carrying a pilot and eight passengers prompted by mechanical issues to make an emergency landing in Denali National Park on Friday.

Authorities say no injuries were reported after the K2 Aviation de Havilland DHC-2 Turbine Beaver made a forced landing near the Tokositna Glacier. The incident occurred in the midst of the park’s busy tourist season, when multiple planes ferry visitors on once-in-a-lifetime trips into the Alaska Range whenever the area’s unpredictable weather allows.

The plane, equipped with wheel skis for glacier landings, was on the way back from a trip over the glacier when the landing occurred, inflicting substantial damage, according to Clint Johnson, Alaska chief for the National Transportation Safety Board.

“They were returning to Talkeetna and had some type of a power issue,” Johnson said Monday. “We’re not sure if this is an engine issue or a prop issue.”

Bad weather over the weekend delayed the recovery of the wreckage, but investigators hoped to bring it into Talkeetna for closer examination on Monday, he said, adding it was possible the plane could be taken to another location.

The investigator in charge of the case will talk with the pilot of Friday’s flight, Johnson said. The plane’s engine will also be “closely” examined, he said.

Representatives of K2 and the National Park Service didn’t immediately respond to requests for additional information on Monday.

Park officials in a statement Saturday said they received a call from K2 around 5 p.m. Friday reporting the plane had lost power and needed to make a forced landing.

“The aircraft managed to make an emergency landing in an area of thick alder bushes near the toe of the glacier in the vicinity of Mount Goldie,” the statement said. The area is northwest of Talkeetna in the southern reaches of the Alaska Range and directly south of Denali, North America’s highest peak.

K2 is one of several flightseeing companies that fly clients including climbers from Talkeetna into the park. In August 2018, a pilot and four passengers on a K2 plane were killed when the aircraft crashed “into the side of a mountain” during a one-hour flightseeing trip.