Photo is a typical DeHavilland, not the aircraft which crashed.
Eight passengers and the pilot were killed when the plane went down during a tour of the Misty Fjords area of southeast Alaska on Thursday afternoon, flight operator Promech Air said.
"We are going to be taking a look at the local weather but we are planning on a mission down to recover the victims this morning," said Jerry Kiffer, president of the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad.
The DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter float plane crashed near Ella Lake, about 20 miles (30 km) northeast of the town of Ketchikan, cruise operator Holland America Line said.
Kiffer said recovery efforts had been delayed because of the location of the crash site, low visibility due to clouds and fog and the precarious position of the plane on the side of a steep rock face.
"We consider the aircraft unstable," he said.
Conditions at the nearby Ketchikan International Airport were overcast and rainy around the time of the crash, the National Weather Service said.