Anchorage-based Security Aviation has released the names of two pilots killed in a plane crash near a military radar site on Cape Newenham on Aug. 20 that killed all eight on board.
Captain Dave Furber of Anchorage was 73 years old, and first officer Sergei Zelenkov II of Chugiak was 34 years old when the Cessna 441 Conquest they were flying crashed on the remote cape on the Bering Sea coast.
The Cessna 441 Conquest twin-engine tuboprop aircraft had been chartered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to fly from Anchorage to the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site, part of a network of remote radar sites that track aircraft operating in Alaska's airspace and along its borders.
The six passengers onboard the plane included Army Corps employees Sabrina Hansen and Hayden Scalis; U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Leah Borsich; Trevor Mcwilliams, an employee with Yukon Fire Protection Services; and two employees of Calista Corporation subsidiary Calista Brice: Joseph “Joe” Palmer and Tom Fisher.
The plane was on a second approach and flying in low visibility conditions when it crashed in mountainous terrain west of the runway at the site, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB is investigating the crash and said that a preliminary report will be released within the coming weeks.
As of Sept. 5, Alaska State Troopers had not yet positively identified the remains of any of the victims.
The crash was the deadliest in Alaska since a Bering Air crash killed all 10 people aboard in February 2025.
