ANCHORAGE — The publisher of Alaska’s largest newspaper was able to free herself from her partially submerged and sinking airplane after it dove nose-first into the waters of Alaska’s Kachemak Bay, about 30 yards from a commercial tour boat, according to federal accident report released days after the July 3 crash.
Rescuers reached Alaska Dispatch News publisher and owner Alice Rogoff, 64, within moments of the July 3 accident in Halibut Cove, according to a preliminary report published Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“She’s doing fine,” her attorney, Brent Cole, told The Associated Press on Friday. “Obviously, this is a traumatic event for anyone and she’s no different.”
There were 30 people on board the boat, which takes tourists from attraction to attraction in the coastal tourist community about 125 miles south of Anchorage, on the Kenai Peninsula.
“This could have been much, much worse,” said Clint Johnson, the head of the NTSB’s Alaska division. “I think we’re very fortunate there were no injuries to the pilot, there were no injuries to the folks on the ground.”
NTSB preliminary reports are factual in nature and draw no conclusions as to the cause of a crash, Johnson said.
Final reports with probable cause are usually filed with nine months, but Johnson said the report on this crash could come within three to four months because he didn’t anticipate any issues that would keep them from closing the investigation sooner.
Rogoff has not spoken with NTSB investigators about the crash, and isn’t required to do so. She must, however, file a written report within 10 days of the crash.
Cole said Rogoff has cooperated with the NTSB from the beginning and will provide the written statement.
According to the report, Rogoff’s plane had taken off from Homer about 5:42 p.m., July 3, for Halibut Cove, 11 miles away across the bay. Rogoff was attending a birthday party for former state Sen. Clem Tillion at his home in Halibut Cove.
Rogoff’s Cessna 206, registered to Umailik LLC of Anchorage, briefly touched down in the calm, glassy waters of Halibut Cove before becoming airborne again.
Witnesses told investigators the airplane began a steep climb to the west and then veered sharply to the left while in a nose-high attitude.
“As the airplane continued climbing in a south-southwest direction, it subsequently struck a large stand of trees on the southern shoreline of Halibut Cove,” the report says, which relied on various statements and photographs from witnesses.
“The witnesses said that during the collision sequence, the airplane’s left float was severed, and the airplane immediately descended, nose first, into the waters of Halibut Cove,” about 100 feet from the commercial tour boat, the report says.
“Conditions were very challenging,” Cole said. “Glassy water landings are a challenge for any seaplane pilot and people who are in the industry will confirm that.”
The closest weather reporting facility was 11 miles away in Homer, which reported winds of about 10 mph, broken clouds and visibility of 10 miles.
Rogoff is the wife of billionaire financier David Rubenstein and a former chief financial officer of U.S. News and World Report. In 2009 she became majority owner of the Alaska Dispatch, an online newspaper.
Its parent company purchased the Anchorage Daily News from The McClatchy Co. for $34 million in 2014 and the name was changed to Alaska Dispatch News.
