Crashed plane’s emergency signal sparks search, but pilot was long gone, Alaska cops say

A radio emergency beacon from a crashed plane prompted a days-long search in bad weather for the wreck, Alaska State Troopers reported.

But when troopers finally discovered the crashed plane on Thursday, Feb. 10, the pilot was nowhere to be found, they said in a daily dispatch.

Troopers reached the pilot by telephone that night and discovered he had hitched a ride out with another pilot without shutting off his plane’s emergency beacon.

The plane had crash-landed east of the Parks Highway near Willow and Talkeetna on Saturday, Feb. 6, troopers wrote. There were no distress calls or reports of overdue flights, however.

The Alaska Civil Air Patrol, Alaska Wildlife Troopers and Alaska Army National Guard deployed helicopters to search for the source of the emergency beacon, along with ground searches.

Civil Air Patrol searchers finally found the overturned 1946 Taylorcraft BV12-D near Lynx Peak, but a rescue team flown to the crash found no one aboard. They followed a set of tracks that abruptly stopped.

Troopers asked pilots to notify the Federal Aviation Administration if they plan to leave an unsecured aircraft in the Alaska wilderness or if they crash but self-rescue.

“The search and rescue efforts resulting from this operation cost thousands of dollars and took multiple Troopers, Guardsmen, and CAP volunteers away from other duties to coordinate and respond to this multi-day search,” the release said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 1:30 PM with the headline "Crashed plane’s emergency signal sparks search, but pilot was long gone, Alaska cops say."