Charter plane crash kills 8 near remote radar site in western Alaska, military says

The crash site sits approximately 450 miles west of Anchorage, at one of the remote radar installations managed by the Pacific Air Forces Regional Support Center. The site is part of a network that tracks aircraft operating in Alaska's airspace. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command and Eleventh Air Force, called it "a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve."

Now, you might wonder why this matters to Lubbock. Dyess Air Force Base is just down the road in Abilene, and Lubbock has deep ties to the military through the families who live here and serve. Losses like this land close to home across the region, not just in Alaska.

The radar network they were supporting quietly does the work of watching over one of the most remote stretches of American airspace on the planet, far from any city, largely invisible to most of the country until something goes wrong.