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Air ambulance company Guardian Flight said it has recovered the cockpit voice recorder for its plane that crashed in Southeast Alaska’s Frederick Sound in late January.
Clint Johnson, chief for the Alaska regional office of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the NTSB has taken custody of the cockpit voice recorder, commonly referred to as a black box, and confirmed it is from the crashed aircraft.
“We’re working right now to get a plan formulated to be able to get that cockpit voice recorder back to our Washington, D.C., vehicle recorder lab, where they hopefully can download that information and hopefully give us a little bit more insight of the sequence of events of this tragic accident,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Johnson said it’s still not known whether the recorder was working or captured information from the crash.
“It could possibly record conversations with either air traffic control or intercom systems within the airplane,” he explained. “We won’t really know exactly what the quality (is), or if there is in fact a recording that would give us a better idea of the sequence of events, until we have a chance to audition that cockpit voice recorder. Hopefully that will take place probably within a day after reaching our Washington, D.C., vehicle recorder lab, and we’re anxiously awaiting that information.”
The NTSB has an investigator on board the recovery boat in Frederick Sound. Johnson said the NTSB hopes to know more about plans for recovering other parts of the plane within the next 24-to-48 hours.
In an email, Randy Lyman, Guardian Flight’s senior vice president of operations, calls the discovery a “positive development in the search” but also a “heartbreaking time” for the company and families of the lost crew.
Three people — a pilot, nurse and a paramedic — died in the crash. All three were Juneau residents. Guardian Flight says it continues to search for the crew members.
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted Feb. 6, 2019 against filling a vacant position in the police department. (Photo by KFSK)
Uncertainty about next year’s spending by the state of Alaska is trickling down to local governments. Petersburg’s borough assembly voted on Feb. 6 against filling a vacant position in the police department, at least until a proposed state spending plan is unveiled later this month. Local officials are expecting spending cuts at the state level, which may lead to similar changes locally.
The open job is one of two sergeant’s positions on the local force, normally made up of nine officers. It’s already budgeted for this year, but the borough has waited on hiring anyone for that job. Assembly member Kurt Wohlhueter wanted to hold off on longer on that hire.
“I’m definitely not opposed to filling every position of the police department but I really would hate to hire somebody now and then later on see what the state budget is going to be and then have to then let that person go, or let somebody go,” Wohlhueter said.
New governor Michael Dunleavy is expected to release his budget proposal for next year on February 13. The governor campaigned on the promise of a balanced budget, which could mean a state spending reduction of 30 percent in one year, or more than one and a half billion dollars. That could mean reductions or elimination of revenue sharing, jail funding and other payments to municipalities, or shifting costs to local governments.
Vacancies in the department mean longer hours for the rest of the force, and that increases overtime pay. Police chief James Kerr told the assembly that overtime in 2013 was nearly $84,000 with a fully staffed department. It was right around that the next two years as well. The department’s been short staffed since 2016, and that year overtime pay increased to nearly $94,000. That number went up to over $132,000 dollars. Last year the department paid out more than $155,000, nearly double the budgeted amount. More than halfway through this fiscal year, that overtime figure is over $83,000.
“Those years we were over, we had to make cuts from within our department,” Kerr told the assembly. “That’s not sending anyone to training so we’re getting behind on training and not replacing certain items within. So we had to make cuts within so we would come in under our budget overall.”
The overtime pay was an issue for assembly member Jeff Meucci.
“I mean that’s a ton of money that we’re spending on overtime because we don’t have enough, as far as I can tell, enough people to fill all the spots,” Meucci said. “And if we’re not going to fill this position I think the police department needs to figure out what they’re going to do, if they’re going to hire a police officer, or they’re just going to try and put their schedule together based on not 24/7 police protection.”
Phil Hofstetter, CEO of the Petersburg Medical Center has lobbied the borough to keep round the clock police coverage in the community. In a letter to the borough, Hofstetter noted recent incidents of violent patients that have required nursing staff to call 911 for police help. He writes after hours, the hospital has minimal nursing staff caring for long-term care residents, acute care beds and the emergency room.
Borough manager Steve Giesbrecht noted that filling the vacancy in the police department was a larger question than just one job.
“So if you don’t replace the position long-term, we have to change how we operate in the police department, which means whether it’s 24 hour coverage or fewer people on at certain times or certain things we just stop doing,” Giesbrecht explained. “That’s the big question.”
Assembly members were not ready to keep the status quo yet with state budget cuts coming.
Assembly member Bob Lynn didn’t expect the state budget would be resolved before the borough had finished its review of a local spending plan for next year. But he wanted to wait for more information.
“My concern is, if we have to cut, cutting $200,000 is one thing, cutting half a million dollars is another one,” Lynn said. “And that requires my thinking to look at a whole bunch of different things we have to do, including changing business.”
The vote was 5-2 against filling the position, with Jeigh Stanton Gregor and Jeff Meucci voting for it.
In other possible budget decisions, the assembly did vote unanimously to direct the borough manager to look into hiring a consultant for improving the bottom line at Mountain View Manor’s assisted living facility. Even with a waiting list and full occupancy, that facility had an estimated operating loss of nearly $138,000 last year. That vote doesn’t yet approve any spending for that consultant. Before that happens, it will come back before the assembly at a later date.
And the assembly once again voted to remove budget items from their meeting agenda. Assembly member Meucci sought to have a discussion on adding a position in the fire department, cutting grants to community service organizations, merit raises for borough department heads and eliminating snow removal outside of the old city limits.
“We all know that there are going to be cuts coming, and I’ve said this before, but I think there should be a time when we’re all here to at least let the community know what some of our thoughts are,” Meucci said.
He and Stanton Gregor were the only votes to keep those discussion items on the agenda and they were removed for the second meeting in a row.
The Coast Guard says it continues to search for an air ambulance that vanished near Kake. A piece of metal suspected to be part of the plane has been recovered. (Read more.)
Update (11:13 p.m.)— Ryan Cunningham, KTOO
Guardian Flight has released the names of the three personnel aboard the medevac plane that went missing Tuesday night: pilot Patrick Coyle, 63; flight nurse Stacie Rae Morse, 30; and flight paramedic Margaret Langston Allen, 43. Guardian says all three are based in Juneau.
“We continue to ask for prayers and support as we focus on these crew members and their families during this very difficult time,” said Guardian Senior Vice President of Operations Randy Lyman.
Late Wednesday evening, the Coast Guard said they were still searching for the plane in the waters near Kake. Debris from an aircraft had been spotted earlier in the day, but the Coast Guard was unable to confirm if the debris belonged to the missing plane.
The Coast Guard says a number of local agencies have assisted in the search, including Petersburg Search and Rescue, Alaska State Troopers, Kake Search and Rescue, Wrangell Search and Rescue, Alaska Marine Highway ferries and good Samaritans in the area.
Update (5:04 p.m.)— Katherine Rose, KCAW-Sitka
The U.S. Coast Guard says debris from a plane has been found in the water near Kake. Coast Guard officials have not yet confirmed that the debris came from the missing medevac plane.
The Coast Guard has been focusing their search on the last known position of the aircraft, an area of water 30 nautical miles by 20 nautical miles west of Kake.
Chief Charly Hengen, public affairs specialist with the Coast Guard, said the debris was found near that area.
“The Coast Guard and partner agencies and volunteers, they’re still continuing the search for that overdue aircraft near Kake,” Hengen said. “We did receive reports that debris from a plane was located in the water approximately 22 miles west of Kake. It’s located about the south tip of Admiralty Island in Chatham Straight. However, the Coast Guard cannot confirm that the debris is from that aircraft.”
Original story
As of late Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard and others were still searching for a medevac aircraft that went missing Tuesday night on a flight from Anchorage to Kake.
A pilot, nurse and paramedic were on board the twin-engine King Air 200 plane owned by Guardian Flight. The plane was due in Kake at 6:19 p.m. Tuesday evening, but it never arrived.
Guardian senior vice president of operations Randy Lyman said, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to our fellow employees and their families during this very trying time.”
The company is standing down with its planes in Alaska until they have more information about the missing plane. Guardian says it is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration in their investigations.
The Coast Guard says the electronic locating transmitter is not broadcasting for the plane. The search is focusing on the last known position of the aircraft.
Tuesday night the Petersburg-based Coast Guard cutter Anacapa, along with several good Samaritan vessels, were searching an area 20 miles west of Kake.
The Coast Guard says the cutter Bailey T. Barco relieved the Anacapa Wednesday morning, and a National Guard H-60 helicopter from Juneau was also joining in the search.
An Island Air Express plane sits at Ketchikan’s airport in August 2018. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
After just nine months, a small airline in Southeast Alaska is ending scheduled service between Petersburg and Juneau. Island Air Express is discontinuing scheduled stops in the two communities on Jan. 15.
Scott Van Valin, co-owner and director of operations for the regional airline, said there was not enough passenger demand on those flights.
“When you peel everything back, our attempt to do this operation and that route, I can’t see how we can look back and say, ‘If we had only done this it would’ve worked,’” Van Valin explained. “You know we put the best equipment, best pilots, everything that was required to make this a quality service in place, and it’s just the one component that is the most important component is the passengers, and unfortunately there aren’t enough to sustain it.”
The airline offered a scheduled, same-day round-trip between Petersburg and the capital city. There are no changes planned for the Ketchikan-Klawock service, which the company has offered for about a decade. Van Valin explained that Island Air didn’t want the new service to jeopardize that established connection.
“We’ve seen many air carriers in the past in Alaska not follow that procedure, that idea or the concept, and basically take a long-term company that was operating for many successful years and, within a year, a new idea can topple it all down,” he said. “That’s kind of why we are not willing to attempt much more. That was kind of the game plan.”
Island Air will still do charter flights around the region. Van Valin said it was a difficult decision to end flights to Petersburg.
“You know, I’ve lived on Prince of Wales (Island) for 30 years and have been to Petersburg quite a few times and never got super involved. And I can tell you from our time last spring until now, I now can see why Petersburg has always been considered a really neat, tight community, because everybody we came in contact with during the past nine months were just extremely outgoing, friendly and welcomed us into the community,” Van Valin said.
The company has six planes and 24 employees in Ketchikan and Klawock.
This view of Kupreanof Island is part of the 16.8-million-acre Tongass National Forest, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. (Photo by KFSK)
The partial government shutdown continues — 19 days and counting. It’s affecting hundreds of U.S. Forest Service workers all over Southeast Alaska.
The lights are out for most of the Petersburg Ranger District Office. In Petersburg, most of the 75 agency workers are furloughed.
Interim District Ranger Ted Sandhofer is still reporting to work, but he said he’s not allowed to talk to the media during the shutdown. And all Forest Service media offices are closed, including at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“When we’re on furlough, we’re basically not doing any of the agency’s work,” said Ken Dinsmore of Sitka. He’s the Local 251 union president for forestry workers in Alaska and has worked for the Forest Service for decades. He represents about 200 workers in Southeast, along with others throughout the state. He said the furlough doesn’t just affect federal workers but also local economies.
“Say, for example, in Petersburg: 75 employees. Here in Sitka, maybe 50 aren’t getting paid. You’re taking that revenue not only out of the employees’ hand, but you’re taking it out of the community as well from what they might have spent,” Dinsmore said.
The partial shutdown means workers considered essential are on the job without pay, and non-essential workers aren’t working at all. Dinsmore said there are circumstances when some employees could get called back into work, but it would be on a limited basis.
“Such as a timber sale that may be still active and needs to have the contract administered and payments made and collected. That sort of thing,” he said.
For right now, though, it’s a wait-and-see for dozens of Petersburg workers. KFSK approached several of them for their thoughts on the furlough, but most wouldn’t comment.
A few did.
“It’s really an uncertain time,” said Carin Christensen, a part-time employee whose husband also works for the Forest Service. “We don’t know when we’re going back to work, how it will happen, you know, how this will get resolved.”
So far, her family has been OK financially, but all of that depends on how long the shutdown lasts and if the government decides to pay workers back pay afterwards.
The timing hasn’t been the worst. Winter is a low-production time of year for the Forest Service. There is less field work outside and more paper work inside. But Christensen said workers are missing time to prepare for their next projects.
“It’s a good time to plan. It’s a good time to do maps. It’s a good time to do any of the office work that you don’t have time to do during the summer,” she said.
Another furloughed Petersburg Forest Service couple is Heath and Marina Whitacre. He’s a hydrologist and she’s a writer-editor.
Heath Whitacre said they hope the furlough doesn’t last too long and really impacts their finances. But he said they’re trying not to let themselves get worked up about it, because they can’t change anything.
“There’s nothing we can do about the shutdown,” he said. “Just kind of letting go of that and stressing about something you can’t influence. That’s happening in Washington, D.C., at an entirely different level. Locally, we can’t do anything about it.”
He said the shutdown will affect science-based projects that include data collection, like snow surveys. Marina Whitacre said hiring seasonal workers for summertime field work will be backlogged.
“We were supposed to have selections, or working on it, before a certain time that’s already passed,” Marina said. “And I think that one week — the week we’ve been closed already — was a critical week for that.”
The Whitacres went through a previous extended shutdown in 2013, which lasted for 16 days. They received back pay after that. Heath Whitacre said some people don’t understand what it’s like to be furloughed when they call it a paid vacation for the feds.
“That doesn’t feel good,” he said. “I want to give the people — the taxpayers — their money’s worth. I want to be at work working if I’m getting paid. And so that part of it doesn’t really sit well with me, but what am I going to do about that also?”
Dinsmore has been through many furloughs in the past, and Forest Service workers received back pay for the time they were off. But he said this time could be different.
“I don’t see that as being any sort of a guarantee this time around,” Dinsmore said. “So I just caution employees to not count on that.”
For now, all they can do wait on decisions being made thousands of miles away in the country’s capital.
Trollers in Sitka’s Eliason Harbor. (Photo by KCAW)
Commercial salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska had a slow start to the winter season. That’s likely to mean another year of restrictions for both commercial and sport fishing for king salmon in 2019. Recently-adopted guidelines in the Pacific Salmon Treaty link the success or failure of winter fishing to the numbers of salmon available for harvest the rest of the year.
The winter troll season opens in Southeast Alaska in October. Through the end of December, trollers had caught only around 5,500 kings.
Grant Hagerman, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s troll fishery biologist for Southeast, said that catch is down quite a bit from last year.
“Last year through the same time period we had over seven thousand, we were about 7,400, so we’re almost a couple thousand fish below where we were last year,” he said. “And that’s quite a bit below a five- or ten-year average. The early winter fishery, basically October through December, the five-year average is just about 16,000, and a ten-year or longer average is about 12 and a half thousand (12,500), so we’re down substantially from that.”
Normally, catches in the outside waters near Sitka make up a big portion of the winter catch. Those catches were low this year. And there was some stronger early-season fishing in Frederick Sound near Petersburg. Hagerman said that led to some of the fleet heading inside to fish.
“It was interesting to see some of the Sitka fleet actually fishing in Frederick Sound,” Hagerman said. “You know, we get fish tickets in, and seeing some of the Sitka boats where normally we have 100 boats here fishing and catching — you know, like I mentioned 40 to 50 percent of that early-winter harvest — we had a fair amount of permits who ran into the inside to fish. Very different.”
Last year’s total winter catch season was shortened by six weeks to conserve the fish returning to Southeast rivers. This year’s winter season is also expected to end March 15.
The troll catch takes on added significance this year. That’s because the Pacific Salmon Treaty signed in 2018 links management measures for all fisheries to the winter season catch rates. Specifically, estimates of king salmon abundance will be based on power troll catch rates in waters near Sitka for the first month and a half of the season.
The numbers are still preliminary, and harvest restrictions and fishery closures are not yet finalized. But Hagerman does expect more restrictions to commercial and sport fishing.
“Following the 2018 Alaska Board of Fisheries meeting, we had a number of restrictions that were implemented in troll fisheries, gillnet — well, all commercial fisheries, really, and the sport fisheries — and I believe those would continue,” Hagerman said.
