Pilot Ted Smith, 59, Carolyn Sorvoja, 48, and Rosemarie Sorvoja, 10, died in the crash near Rainy Pass.
All were from Eagle River, a community on Anchorage's north side.
They had left Anchorage on Monday morning bound for Takotna, a village of 53 people about 27 kilometres west of McGrath and 378 kilometres northwest of Anchorage. The community is more than a quarter of the way into the 1,600-kilometre Iditarod.
The Sorvoja family referred questions to family spokesman David Morris, who said the Sorvojas were heading to Takotna to volunteer for the race.
The Cessna 182 left Anchorage from Merrill Field at about 10 a.m. and did not file a flight plan.
Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said by email that the airplane was supposed to drop off the Sorvojas and return to Anchorage to transport more passengers.
The Cessna 182 did not arrive in Takotna and was reported overdue around 4 p.m. when it had not returned to Anchorage.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, just before 6 p.m., launched a search with a HC-130 airplane and a helicopter. The aircraft searched for about eight hours along the projected flight route, said the center superintendent, Senior Master Sgt. Robert Carte.
Smith was an experienced, well equipped pilot, said Kalei Brooks, spokeswoman for the Alaska National Guard. Smith was carrying a personal locator beacon in his vest and an emergency locator transmitter on his airplane. However, neither sent out a signal that was detected Monday by the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system.
On Tuesday morning, the search resumed with about 10 military, state trooper and private aircraft flying grids in an extended search.
Aerial searchers spotted the wreckage at 10:22 a.m. near the 4,000-foot level of Rainy Pass.
Iditarod racers reach an elevation of 3,200 feet at the pass, which divides south-central Alaska from the state's vast Interior north of the Alaska Range.
Searchers landed and confirmed that no one had survived. They recovered the bodies and flew them to Anchorage, where autopsies were scheduled.
The HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter from the 210th Rescue Squadron with a Guardian Angel team onboard from the 212thRescue Squadron located the overdue aircraft at approximately 10:22 a.m. near the 4,000-ft level of Rainy Pass. All three people on board are deceased. Alaska State Troopers have notified next of kin.
The Guardian Angel team extricated the bodies from the wreckage of the plane. Because of incoming weather and the safety of the site, the Alaska Air National Guard removed the bodies from the scene and is bringing them back to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson where they will be turned over to Alaska State Troopers.
The 182 Cessna was reported overdue around 4 p.m. March 4 when Merrill Field Tower controllers reported to the 11th Air Force Rescue Coordination Center that a Cessna 182 aircraft had not arrived in Takotna and was supposed to have done so around noon. The RCC began calling airfields in the area of the projected flight path to check if the aircraft had landed somewhere other than Takotna. According to the RCC, the pilot did not file a flight plan.
“When pilots file a flight plan with the FAA, the FAA initiates a search for an overdue aircraft typically much sooner than when an aircraft is reported late by family or friends,” said Senior Master Sgt. Robert Carte, superintendent of the RCC.
After airfields in the area reported no sign of the overdue aircraft, the RCC tasked the Alaska Air National Guard to begin a search.
At approximately 5:50 p.m., an HC-130 refueling aircraft from the 211th Rescue Squadron and an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter from the 210th Rescue Squadron launched from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage with Guardian Angel pararescue teams aboard. They each searched for approximately eight hours before returning to JBER for crew rest.
“Nothing was spotted, nothing was heard last night,” Carte said. “Yesterday we conducted what is called a ‘hasty search,’ extensively looking in areas along the projected flight route known to cause problems for aircraft. Today, we have moved into the ‘extended search’ in which we have given grid assignments to search aircraft and are searching in a systematic manner.”
There were at least 10 coordinated aircraft searching for the overdue plane today.
An Alaska Air National Guard HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter with a Guardian Angel team aboard launched around 8 a.m. An Alaska Air National Guard HC-130 aircraft with another Guardian Angel team aboard soon followed suit. An Alaska Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 1-207th Aviation also joined the search this morning. In addition, the Birchwood and Merrill Field Civil Air Patrol were also involved, as well as several Good Samaritan pilots and Iditarod Air Force aircraft. The overdue aircraft was not part of the Iditarod.
The pilot had a personal locator beacon in his vest and a 406 emergency locator transmitter onboard. The Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking, or SARSAT system, has not picked up a signal for either beacon. According to the RCC, the pilot was experienced and traveled well equipped for emergencies.
Alaska State Troopers will release the names of those on board.
No comments:
Post a Comment