11 hours ago
3
A pilot and two children miraculously survived for about 12 hours on the wing of a partially submerged plane in an icy Alaskan lake before being rescued by the
Alaska Army National Guard
on Monday.
The Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser had taken off from Soldotna on a sightseeing flight to Skilak Lake on Sunday but never returned. With no locator beacon on board, a desperate search began after a Facebook post urged local pilots to help find the missing aircraft.
Among those who joined the search was Terry Godes, who flew his own plane over the rugged terrain of the Kenai Peninsula early Monday. As he approached Tustumena Lake near a glacier, he spotted what looked like wreckage.
“It kind of broke my heart to see that,” Godes said.
However, he could spot three people on the top of the wing as he got closer and to his amazement, they were alive.
“They were alive and responsive and moving around,” he said, adding that they waved at him as he flew over.
Godes immediately alerted fellow searchers. Another pilot, Dale Eicher, relayed the coordinates to authorities, as he was closer to Skilak Lake and had better mobile reception.
The Alaska Army National Guard dispatched a rescue helicopter from Anchorage, initially planning to hoist the survivors off the wing. However, strong rotor winds made it too risky, especially for the youngest child. Instead, the crew carefully manoeuvred alongside the wreckage and pulled the three on board.
Lieutenant colonel Brendon Holbrook, who led the rescue operation, said the adult male had suffered from hypothermia, likely after falling into the water, while the children were relatively dry.
The team initially planned to rescue the three survivors off the wing, but the powerful rotor winds made it too dangerous, especially for the youngest girl, who was being tossed around by the force, said Lt Col Brendon Holbrook, commander of the Guard’s 207th Aviation Regiment. Instead, the helicopter carefully positioned itself alongside the wreckage and brought them on board.
“They spent a long, cold, dark, wet night out on top of a wing of an airplane that they weren’t planning on,” Godes said.
Temperatures had dipped well below freezing overnight. The survivors had only basic clothing suitable for small-plane travel, but nothing to protect them from the extreme cold and biting winds.
“It was literally the best possible scenario and outcome,” Holbrook said. “That plane was in the ice with the tail refrozen. If that tail hadn’t refrozen, it would have sunk.”
The cause of the crash remains unknown, and the national transportation safety board, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, has launched an investigation.
Tustumena Lake, a vast 60,000-acre body of water about 130 kilometres southwest of Anchorage, is notorious for its sudden, treacherous winds. Meteorologists say the surrounding mountains and glacier contribute to unpredictable turbulence in the area.
Godes, who knows the region well, described it as a “recipe for chaos.”
“Even under what would be considered a benign or relatively weak pressure gradient, the terrain helps turn the winds around, and occasionally they get a little squirrelly,” said Michael Kutz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The crash follows a string of recent aviation tragedies in Alaska. Last month, 10 people died when a small commuter plane crashed into sea ice near Nome. In 2019, a midair collision near Soldotna killed seven people, including a state lawmaker.
While Monday’s crash could have ended in another tragedy, rescuers say luck and a series of small miracles kept the pilot and children alive.
“It's a cold dark place out there at night,” Godes said.
