ON PARADE – Children dressed as their favorite animals hold a Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H Club banner as they march down Lincoln Street on Earth Day, Monday. The Parade of Species was held in recognition of Earth Day. It was hosted by Sitka Conservation Society, University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the Sitka Sound Science Center. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly its regular meeting Tuesday approved dou [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
“We want to hear from the public, what they value i [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Sitka schools were notified at around noon today that the city administrator had re [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s track and field athletes faced off aga [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska is getting an infusion of nearly $125 million to build and [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Senate voted unanimously on Monday to make it easier f [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House’s Rules Committee has eliminated, at least temporaril [ ... ]
By DAVID A. LIEB
The Associated Press
A conservative quest to limit diversity, equity and inclusion in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Alaska’s three-member, bipartisan congressional delegation is sid [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 23
At 3:14 a.m. a downtown bar report [ ... ]
Vaughn Blankenship
Dies at Age 91
Vaughn Blankenship, a longtime Sitka resident, died Tuesday at SEARH [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With about a month left before the end of the regular [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city will hold a public meeting Wednesday for pub [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
With only days to go before the statewide Native Yout [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Daily Sitka Sentinel and KCAW-FM Raven Radio won awards Saturday at the [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
To address a surge in mental health problems among young Alaskans [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A bill passed Thursday by the Alaska House of Representatives wou [ ... ]
City to Conduct
Relay Testing
The city electric department is conducting systemwide relay testing th [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Another lawsuit that has implications in Southeast Al [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly on Tuesday will consider final reading o [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Competing in their first home games of the season, Si [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Citing what they characterized as unacceptable risks to wildlife [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The Yup’ik village of Newtok, perched precariously on thawing permafro [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Midair Plane Collision Kills 7 Near Soldotna
By MORGAN KRAKOW
Anchorage Daily News
Investigators are trying to figure out what exactly occurred when two planes collided in midair near the Soldotna airport on the Kenai Peninsula on Friday, killing seven people including a Kenai lawmaker.
The single-engine de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver involved in the crash carried six people: 57-year-old pilot Gregory Bell, of Soldotna; 40-year-old guide David Rogers, of Kansas; and South Carolina residents Caleb Hulsey, 26, Heather Hulsey, 25, Mackay Hulsey, 24, and Kirstin Wright, 23, Alaska State Troopers said.
The only person in the other plane, a single-engine Piper PA-12, was 63-year-old state Rep. Gary Knopp of Kenai, troopers and federal aviation officials said.
Six people were confirmed dead at the scene while one person died on the way to Central Peninsula Hospital in an ambulance.
The federal National Transportation Safety Board was recovering the two planes, NTSB Alaska chief Clint Johnson said Saturday. The agency hoped to be finished with recovery efforts by the end of Saturday, and the goal is to bring the two planes to a secured location in the Wasilla area, Johnson said.
In the next two weeks the agency hopes to “be able to piece those airplanes back together” to understand how the two planes came together, Johnson said.
He also said it’s “way too early to discuss cause at this point. We are definitely just in the preliminary stages and information gathering stages.”
Bell, the Beaver’s pilot, was part of a family that owns and operates High Adventure Air Charter, based on Longmere Lake in Soldotna. The business offers fishing, hunting, bear viewing and glacier tour trips as well as custom charters.
The charter plane, which was equipped with floats, took off from Longmere Lake and was headed to the west side of Cook Inlet, Johnson said.
The Piper PA-12 was equipped with wheels and took off from the Soldotna Airport, he said, but investigators do not yet know where it was headed.
How exactly the two planes collided is what investigators are trying to learn.
Knopp, a longtime contractor who was also a flight instructor and pilot, was elected to the Legislature in 2016. Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Friday ordered U.S. and Alaska state flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Knopp for three days, ending at sunset Monday, with flags returning to full-staff at sunrise tonight.
A South Carolina television station reported that Caleb and Mackay Hulsey were brothers. Heather Hulsey was married to Caleb, the station reported. Mackay and Kirstin Wright were planning to marry and had been dating since 2011.
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Daily News reporters Zaz Hollander, James Brooks and Paula Dobbyn contributed.
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Michael Stringer, environmental specialist for Sitka Tribe of Alaska and a founder of the community garden, takes the concept of Earth Week literally. This weekend he hopes others will share his appreciation for “earth” and things growing in it by joining him in preparing the community garden just behind Blatchley Middle School for another growing season.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
Classified ads Houses for Sale: Price dropped to $36,500 for 2-story, 4-bdrm. carpeted home on Cascade. Kitchen appliances, drapes, laundry room, carport, handy to schools.