Missing plane found; all aboard safe
JAMES HALPIN
[email protected]
Published: February 19th, 2009 08:26 PM
Last Modified: February 19th, 2009 09:12 PM
A Frontier Flying Service airplane that went down Thursday evening was located hours after it was reported missing with all those aboard alive, according to the company.The downed airplane, flight 8218, was located about seven miles northeast of Nome after it crashed for reasons not immediately known, said Jim Hajdukovich, president of Frontier Flying.
Circumstances of the crash were not immediately clear, but Hajdukovich said all five passengers and the pilot were safe and being transported to Nome Thursday night. One person had minor injuries, he said.
The plane, believed to be a Piper PA-31-350, was last reported about seven miles outside Nome. Its pilot last made radio contact with others at about 6:30 p.m., but subsequently lost contact with the tower and failed to arrive in Nome at its scheduled time, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
The aircraft went down near a spot called Army Peak about seven miles northeast of Nome and deployed an emergency locator beacon, said NTSB investigator Clint Johnson.
The flight was returning to Nome from Brevig Mission when it went down.
A state trooper, along with personnel from the Nome Fire Department and Nome Search and Rescue conducted what Peters characterized as "an extensive ground search" for the Frontier Flying Service flight using snowmachines.
Evergreen also launched a helicopter to assist in locating the flight, Peters said.
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.