CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The names of the two pilots who died Friday morning in a cargo plane crash at Yeager Airport were released Saturday evening.
Johnathan Pablo Alvarado, 47, from Stamford, Texas, and Anh K. Ho, 31, of Cross Lanes, were working for Air Cargo Carriers. Company president Steve Altnau said their families had been notified.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Mr. Alvarado and Ms. Ho,” Yeager Airport Police Chief Joe Crawford said.
Meanwhile, the NTSB held its second and final media briefing in Charleston Saturday where investigator-in-charge Bill English told reporters the cargo plane wasn’t required to have a black box.
“This aircraft is not equipped with black boxes, flight data recorder or CVR. It’s not required to by their regulations,” NTSB investigator-in-charge Bill English told reporters at a Saturday evening briefing at Yeager. “Our initial information is that there are no other electronic devices on board that record any significant information.”
English previously said there was no distress call from the crew.
The Short 330, owned by Air Cargo Carriers, struck the runway 340 feet after the beginning of the runway threshold. From that first contact point it skidded a total of 650 feet off the left of the runway and down the hillside, English said.
“It’s in a very thick-wooded area. It’s low brush but very tangled and hard to get at. It’s also very muddy in there, a very slippery clay-type of mud so it’s very slow-going,” he said.
But investigators were able to reach the cockpit Saturday where they began checking instruments and controls.
“All major components have been accounted for,” English said.
Investigators are months away from determining what caused the crash at just before 7 o’clock Friday morning. Those who have viewed a pair of videos said it appeared the plane was coming in hot as it arrived from Louisville filled with UPS packages. Those videos showed it was titled to the left, they said. English said it was too early to began analyzing the information collected so far.
“We’ll be working on that,” he said.
The names of the man and woman who died in the crash still haven’t been released. The NTSB said that’s up to the state Medical Examiner’s Office but a DHHR spokesperson told MetroNews Saturday state law prohibits the office from releasing the information to anyone but next of kin. The victims lived in West Virginia and flew for Air Cargo Carriers in and out of Yeager.
The operations side of the NTSB investigative team is building a history of the pilots including what they were doing 72 hours before the crash along with their training history, English said.
The left wing that separated from the plane shortly after impact was taken to the West Virginia Air National Guard earlier Saturday. The rest of the wreckage will be moved off the hillside in the coming days but that will be a challenge, English said.
“Our plan for the next few days is to finish the documentation of the aircraft and begin the recovery of the aircraft from the woods. It’s going to be quite a difficult process. It’s very difficult to get in there with the dirt road, very slippery mud to get up in there to get the heavy equipment working to get the aircraft out. I’m starting to do that process now. I’ve got a couple of different options to get that out,” English said.
The main fuselage, tail and right wing are all together about 100 feet down the slope from the runway in a hollow of trees. The front part of the aircraft is pointing down the hill toward Barlow Drive. It’s laying on its left side with the right wing folded over the top.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito attended Saturday’s briefing and said she had confidence in the NTSB to find out what happened.
“You can tell by the professionalism and the way that this has been handled that they know their job, they know what they’re doing and we’re going to get the right answers,” Capito said.
A statement from U.S. Senator Joe Manchin was read at the briefing expressing his thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims.
The airport reopened Saturday afternoon after about a 30-hour shutdown.
The packages on the plane could be turned back over to UPS in the near future, English said.
English said Saturday’s briefing would be the final one in Charleston. He said all other information would come through the NTSB’s media relations office.