Preliminary Reports
Eight Deaths in Fiery Takeoff Accident
IAI 1124A WestWind II, March 29, 2020, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, the Philippines – All eight on board perished and the aircraft was destroyed after catching fire during its takeoff roll on Runway 06. The medevac flight was departing for Haneda, Japan. Witnesses reported seeing sparks coming off the runway before the jet reached Taxiway R2. They continued until the airplane departed the runway safety area at the H1 intersection, struck two runway edge lights and a concrete electric junction box, and came to rest against the airport perimeter fence, where it was consumed by fire. Chunks of rubber, metal debris, and scrape marks from the hub of the right main wheel were found on the runway. Scrape marks from the left main wheel began near H1, where much of the left main tire was recovered. In addition to six Filipinos, the casualties included one U.S. and one Canadian citizen.
Catholic missionaries first started venturing into the Alaska territory in the late 19th century, not long after Russia sold the land to the United States for 2 cents per acre.
The Catholic church built missions and churches, and in the 1950s, bought land in the Copper River Valley from the U.S. government for a mission school largely serving Native students. Even at a modest $1.25 per acre, the sale netted the U.S. government a tidy return on investment.
Now, 50 years after the once-thriving school was shuttered, the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau wants to sell the 462-acre property back to its Indigenous inhabitants for more than $4,000 an acre â or put it up for sale on the open market.
Alaska village eyes return of ancestral lands
STEWART HUNTINGTON, Indian Country Today
May 22, 2021
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1of3In this April 22, 2021, photo, signs of spring thaw appear along the Tazlina River in Tazlina, Alaska. The Catholic Church wants to sell 462 acres that once housed the Copper Valley mission school to the Native Village of Tazlina, a federally recognized tribe. The tribe is scrambling to raise the nearly $1.9 million asking price so it can regain stewardship of its ancestral land. (John Tierney/Indian Country Today via AP)John Tierney/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3This April 22, 2021, photo, shows a sign in tiny Tazlina, Alaska, northwest of Anchorage. The Native Village of Tazlina, a federally recognized tribe, is trying to raise money so it can buy 460 acres of ancestral lands from the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. The land once held a mission school. (John Tierney/Indian Country Today via AP)John Tierney/APShow MoreShow Less