Pilot and Two Daughters Survive Night on Plane Wing After Crash in Icy Alaska Lake
Anchorage, March 25 – A pilot and his two young daughters survived for about 12 hours atop the wing of their partially submerged plane after crashing into an icy Alaska lake before being rescued by the Alaska Army National Guard, authorities said on Tuesday.
The Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, piloted by a man with two juvenile family members, went missing Sunday afternoon during a sightseeing flight from Soldotna to Skilak Lake on the Kenai Peninsula. The aircraft did not have a locator beacon, prompting a search by local pilots after a social media appeal.
Terry Godes, a pilot who joined the search, spotted what he initially believed was wreckage on Tustumena Lake, near the edge of a glacier. Upon closer inspection, he saw three people moving on the plane’s wing.
“They were alive and responsive and moving around,” Godes told The Associated Press. “They waved at me.”
Godes alerted other search pilots, and another pilot, Dale Eicher, relayed the location to authorities. The National Guard dispatched a helicopter from Anchorage, but an initial hoist attempt was abandoned due to strong downdrafts that buffeted the youngest girl. Instead, the aircraft hovered nearby and pulled them aboard.
Lt. Col. Brendon Holbrook, commander of the 207th Aviation Regiment, said the girls were relatively dry, but the pilot had been in the water and was suffering from hypothermia.
“It was literally the best possible scenario and outcome,” Holbrook said, noting that the plane’s tail had refrozen into the ice, preventing it from sinking.
The survivors were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Alaska State Troopers said.
Alaska, with limited road infrastructure, relies heavily on small aircraft, but the state’s unpredictable weather conditions pose risks. Tustumena Lake, a 60,000-acre body of water southwest of Anchorage, is known for sudden, dangerous winds.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have not yet determined the cause of the crash. Mark Ward, an NTSB investigator, said efforts were ongoing to contact the pilot for details.
