After a six-day search, often hampered by adverse weather conditions, the weather cleared sufficiently, allowing air assets to locate the remains of missing pilot, 55-year-old David McRae, and the wreckage of his aircraft.

With better weather conditions, the civil air patrol was able to join the search effort on Thursday morning, and it was CAP who spotted the wreckage shortly after sunrise at the 6,500 foot level of the Alaska range southwest of Merrill Pass.

McRae’s remains were recovered from the crash site, and transported to Anchorage, where they were turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage, the Alaska National Guard reported.

McRae was transporting fuel to the Homestead of Bella Hammond in Port Alsworth, when, after deviating from his flight plan that was to take him through Lake Clark Pass, he went down, possibly due to adverse weather conditions.

The National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating the crash, and McRae’s next of kin have been notified.

McRae was the nephew of late Gov. Jay Hammond and former First Lady Bella Hammond.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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