Search & Rescue

A search and rescue effort to find a missing plane between Juneau and Gustavus Thursday is now a recovery mission.

A crew from Juneau-based Coastal Helicopters spotted wreckage from the Air Excursions Piper Cherokee at about 3 o’ clock Thursday afternoon. A Juneau Mountain Rescue team later found the pilot’s body at the crash site, near Point Howard 23 miles west of Juneau. He was the only one on board.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Ryan Erickson says an MH-60 Jayhawk from Air Station Sitka dropped the JMR team as close as it could get to the wreckage.

“We ended up having to drop them about a half mile away or so, couldn’t get them any closer just because of the terrain, it was so steep,” Erickson says. “And once they got on scene they were able to verify it was the plane that was missing.”

Erickson would not release any information about the pilot, though he says family has been notified.

A woman who answered the phone at Air Excursions’ Juneau office declined to comment. The company provides flight seeing and scheduled service in several northern Southeast communities.

The Coast Guard has offered to assist Alaska State Troopers with recovery on Friday.

The plane was reported missing about 9:15 Thursday morning. It had been en route from Juneau to Gustavus, and was due to arrive at 8:55 a.m. The pilot last made contact with flight service around 8:47.

The Coastal helicopter and Jayhawk conducted the initial aerial search, joined later by Civil Air Patrol. Troopers coordinated with Juneau Mountain Rescue on the ground search.

Erickson says low clouds and rain hampered their efforts throughout the day.

Update, 9:00 p.m.

Wreckage of the missing plane was spotted about 3:00 p.m. by a Coastal Helicopters crew. A Juneau Mountain Rescue team later made it to the crash site and found the body of the pilot. Read the full story here.

Update, 2:06 p.m.

More searchers have now joined the effort to find a small plane that went missing between Juneau and Gustavus this morning (Thursday).

Alaska State Troopers and Juneau Mountain Rescue are coordinating a ground search, while the Civil Air Patrol has joined a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 and a commercial helicopter from Coastal Helicopters in the aerial search.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Ryan Erickson with Sector Juneau Search and Rescue says the pilot was the only person on board the plane owned by Air Excursions. He says it was due into Gustavus at 8:55 a.m., and last made contact at 8:47 near Point Howard.

“We haven’t heard anything since,” Erickson says. “So, flight service station gave the Coast Guard a call, saying we might have a situation, and we’ve been searching since.”

Erickson says low clouds, fog and rain are complicating the search.

The plane is described as a teal and white Piper Cherokee.

A woman who answered the phone at Air Excursions said the company would have no comment and would not be releasing any information at this point.

This is an ongoing story, check back here for updates.

Original story, 12:06 p.m.

The Coast Guard and a commercial helicopter company are looking for a small plane that went missing between Juneau and Gustavus this morning.

Lieutenant Ryan Erickson with Sector Juneau Search and Rescue says the pilot was the only person on board the plane owned by Air Excursions. He says it was due into Gustavus at 8:55 a.m., and last made contact at 8:47 near Point Howard.

“We haven’t heard anything since,” Erickson says. “So, flight service station gave the Coast Guard a call, saying we might have a situation, and we’ve been searching since.”

Erickson says a Coast Guard MH-60 from Air Station Sitka and a chopper from Coastal Helicopters are involved in the search. Low clouds and fog are complicating aerial efforts, and a ground search is not yet underway.

The plane is described as a teal and white Piper Cherokee.

A woman who answered the phone at Air Excursions said the company would have no comment and would not be releasing any information at this point.

This is an ongoing story, check back here for updates.

Update July 27, 2012 11:48 am

The Coast Guard says an 84-foot fishing vessel sank near southern Prince of Wales Island.

All four crew members were rescued and reported no medical issues.

The Coast Guard in a release says the Mary Kay began taking on water late Thursday night.

It then sank in about 600 feet of water near Dixon Entrance, about 275 miles south of Juneau.

The Coast Guard will monitor for any pollution from the estimated 2,500 gallons of fuel on board. The vessel likely won’t be recovered because of the depth of water where it sank.

Several Good Samaritan vessels and an Alaska Wildlife Troopers skiff responded. The troopers were able to take the four crew members, who were wearing immersion suits, aboard from a life raft.

July 27, 2012 6:20 am

Four people were rescued when their fishing vessel sank Friday morning in southern Southeast.

The crew of the ‘Mary Kay’ issued a mayday call before eleven o’clock Thursday night while it was in northern Dixon Entrance.

Lt.(jg) Eddie Michno of the Coast Guard Command Center in Juneau says the vessel sank about three o’clock Friday morning about ten miles south of Prince of Wales Island.

A Canadian rescue aircraft, a Coast Guard H-60 helicopter from Sitka, the Alaska State Trooper vessel ‘Enforcer’ headed to the scene along with two good samaritan vessels.

Four people abandoned the ‘Mary Kay’ into a life raft. They were picked up by the fishing vessel ‘Northwind’ and are now being taken to Ketchikan.

No major injuries were reported.

About 2,500 gallons of diesel were reported on board the ‘Mary Kay.’ Michno says the Marine Safety Detachment in Ketchikan plans to check out the scene for any pollution.

Editor’s note: The Mary Kay was initially reported by the Coast Guard as being a 78-foot vessel.

A pilot who was forced to ditch a U.S. Air Force jet in the North Pacific is safely on board a Coast Guard cutter bound for Alaska.

The unidentified pilot was forced to eject from a F-16 Falcon about 200-miles northeast of Hokkaido, Japan on Sunday. A nearby vessel picked up the pilot who was later was transferred to the freighter Manukai.

The Coast Guard cutter Munro rendezvoused with the freighter Manukai on Tuesday afternoon about 280-miles south of Dutch Harbor. The pilot is expected to be flown by the Munro’s H-65 helicopter to Cold Bay where they will be met by Department of Defense personnel.

Details are sketchy, but everyone is okay after a collision between a skiff and a whale in Freshwater Bay off Chichagof Island.

The incident last night (Thursday) apparently caused the boat to capsize and at least one man to go overboard.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified this morning (Friday), according to Nick Meyer with the search and rescue command center in Juneau.

“I guess they were near shore, so he was able to drag the boat to shore,” Meyer says. “And then he must have hailed to his wife who was on a bigger vessel, who was able to come and pick them up.”

Meyer says he’s hoping to hear from the boaters, who live in Hoonah. Last he heard they were headed back there and were out of cell phone range.

Freshwater Bay is located on the east side of Chichagof Island, near Tenakee Inlet.

There was no answer at the Hoonah Harbormaster’s office this afternoon.

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Three people have been treated for inhalation of ammonia vapors leaking from a Seattle-based fishing vessel as it was docked in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor.

Coast Guard Lt. Jim Fothergill says the slow leak is believed to be coming from a tank holding up to 5,000 pounds of ammonia. The entire cooling system on the 353-foot Excellence contains 20,500 pounds.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation – notified of the spill Saturday afternoon – says the vessel has been towed more than 7 miles to Wide Bay.

Fothergill says it will be a couple days before the cause and source of the leak can be investigated because the ammonia spill continues.

The three people treated were on board the vessel. Two were transported in stable condition for further treatment in Anchorage.