The pilot of a Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172 that crashed into a building in Anchorage on Tuesday was a five-year member of the organization but was not authorized to fly the plane that day. The Civil Air Patrol has confirmed that First Lt. Doug Demarest was killed after he took the plane on an “unsanctioned” flight. No one else was hurt. The incident has, of course, has led to a larger investigation.The FBI has stepped in but said there was no reason to think the crash was intended as terrorism.
The airplane struck the fourth floor of an office building about 6 a.m. It hit a second building as it fell to the ground, then came to rest against another building, and burned. A witness said the airplane “did a total complete turn” before it hit the building. “It was just way low, and then it started sinking on in.”The crash sparked a fire in a parking lot, but it was quickly extinguished and nobody was hurt.
