The commuter flight that crashed on Alaska sea ice last week was part of the workhorse network of short-hop flights that people in the vast state rely on for routine.

On Feb. 12, 2009, a Continental airlines turboprop commuter plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people, including one person in the house.

Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of a plane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while investigators are trying to determine what caused the small commuter aircraft to go down in the icy Bering Sea.