Man Killed In Airplane Collision With Girlfriend

An investigator says a pilot was communicating by radio with her boyfriend before their planes collided in the air over Alaska last week, killing him.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson told the Anchorage Daily News (http://bit.ly/pBn5EI ) Sunday the two pilots took off from different western Alaska villages Friday but met up in the air on the way to Bethel, Alaska.

Johnson says pilot Kristen Sprague, of Idaho, lost track of the other plane shortly before it struck her plane’s right wing about 800 feet above ground, though she was able to land safely.

The other plane, a Cessna 208 Caravan, crashed and burst into flames about 400 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, killing 24-year-old Scott Veal, of Kenai, Alaska.

It was the state’s third midair crash since July.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com