Pilot, 2 children aboard missing plane found alive after hours on wreckage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The pilot and two juveniles in a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser that was reported overdue Sunday night were found alive Monday amid the wreckage after roughly 12 hours on a Kenai Peninsula lake.
John Morris, father of the pilot, told Alaska’s News Source Monday morning that the plane was found with all three missing people alive on Tustumena Lake. Alaska State Troopers confirmed on Monday that the two passengers were elementary and middle school ages.
Troopers reported that a good Samaritan found the plane wreckage near the eastern side of Tustumena Lake Monday morning after the plane had been reported overdue around 10:30 p.m. Sunday night.
The Alaska Army National Guard rescued the male pilot and two juvenile passengers from the plane around 10:30 a.m. Monday.
The three people were taken to a Kenai Peninsula area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Morris — praised the Kenai community for their help, saying he has “air in my lungs again.”
Family friend, Scott Holmes, also thanked the community for the help in locating the pilot and passengers on Monday. After Holmes posted a call for help on Facebook.
“My daughter told me there was 420 shares on my post,” Holmes said. “I‘m proud of the guys that stepped up and went out and helped out.”
One of the local pilots said that the call for help was Dale Eicher. According to Eicher, who has a background in performing search and rescue, said he had barely started looking when he heard over the radio that someone found the plane and the three people.
“I called the troopers immediately because I was still in cell service and I knew it was a really good chance that the guy that had found him was not in cell service,” Eicher said. " I was really shocked. I didn’t expect that we would find them. I didn’t expect that we would find them alive for sure...it doesn’t always turn out this well."
Eicher told Alaska’s News Source that he saw the three people walking on the ice.
Dennis Hogenson, with the National Transportation Safety Board called the situation, “remarkable and good news.”
Hogenson noted that they still do not know what caused the crash. The next steps for them, he said, will be interviewing the pilot and working on recovering the aircraft.
Original Story
Authorities are looking for a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser that was reported overdue Sunday night.
In the Alaska State Troopers dispatch, troopers say the plane may be near Tustumena Lake and the Kenai Mountains.
The U.S. Coast Guard is manning an aerial search for the missing plane.
The father of the missing pilot — a 38-year-old Sterling resident — told Alaska’s News Source his son and two others took off from Soldotna Airport Sunday on what is believed to be a sightseeing flight.
He said his son’s cellphone last pinged around 5 p.m. in the Tustumena Lake area.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more information.
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