More information is coming out about the plane crash in Alaska, where a plane ended up partially submerged in a frozen lake.
Officials said that the pilot of the plane was still a student and was not authorized to fly an aircraft with passengers.
The National Transportation Safety Board identified him as John Morris Jr.
Morris, according to NTSB, is not cooperating with the investigators and has not returned their calls or reported the crash.
“The FAA told me that he is a student pilot, he had no application in for a pilot’s license, and it appears he has a history of violating [the no passenger rule]”, investigator Mark Ward said. “At this point, we don’t know whether he landed purposely or for an emergency procedure, and he’s not talking to us.”
The two passengers on board the flight were children who were related to Morris. Some media outlets said they were his children.
The plane, a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, had missed its planned landing time on Sunday. It was found late Monday morning near Tustumena Lake near Homer, Alaska. It did not have a locator beacon.
Morris and the two children were standing on top of the plane’s wing as the aircraft sat partially submerged.
The trio was taken to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
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