According to U.S. Civil Air Patrol, radar data shows the plane quickly slowing down and losing altitude, but it still isn’t clear what exactly caused the plane to crash. But authorities had reason to believe the plane had either gone down over land or was still on the sea ice because it was equipped with an emergency transmitter that would have automatically sent the plane’s location to the Coast Guard if it had been exposed to saltwater.

A small plane went missing in Alaska while en route from Unalakleet to Nome. Find out more updates on the Bering Air plane here. The United States has experienced a series of aviation incidents in recent weeks,