(U.S. FAA)
Authorities have shifted into recovery operations for a pilot killed south of the Chigniks on Monday. Gabriele Cianetti, 54, was the only occupant in a Grant Aviation Cessna 208B Caravan that crashed into a mountain on its way to Perryville.
“The current location puts the wreckage at about 3000 feet, on a fifty degree down slope,” AST Sgt. Luis Nieves said Tuesday morning. State troopers are taking the lead on the recovery. “We’re reaching out to some of our mountain rescue partners, then we’re going to coordinate getting flights out to the location. It’s going to take a little bit to get out there.”
Nieves said the mountain where the crash site is located is still snow covered, which will likely make the recovery a little hazardous this late in the spring. The pilot’s body is trapped inside the plane.
It is too soon to speculate what went wrong during Monday’s routine flight, Nieves said.
“I’m looking at the wreckage, it’s a pretty significant impact into the side of a mountain where it’s at,” Nieves said. “As to cause, who knows at this point. Was it low visibility, was it equipment failure, we don’t know. NTSB has to determine that.”
Cianetti was from Italy. He had flown with Grant Aviation since 2014.
