AK AK - 3 people, aboard missing medevac aircraft en route to Kake, Anchorage, 29 Jan 2019

[cybervampira]

Medevac Aircraft In Alaska Missing With 3 People Aboard, Coast Guard Searching

A medevac aircraft with three people aboard went missing after it took off from Anchorage, Alaska, on Tuesday evening.

Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain confirmed the news and said the aircraft was reported missing around 7 p.m. local time (11 p.m. EST).

U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Charly Hengen said the King Air 200, operated by Guardian Flight, was scheduled to arrive at Kake, Alaska, around 6:20 p.m. local time ( 10.20 p.m. EST).

"They were going there to pick up a person in Kake,” she said, CBS-affiliated television station KTVA reported.

A helicopter crew was sent by the coast guard to search for the missing plane about 20 miles west of Kake. Vessels in the area were also helping in the search.

Search underway for missing ambulance aircraft in Southeast Alaska

 

[GraceG]

Guardian Flight is pretty big though I think corporate wise with are set up with multiple operations with different names if you look at their website. They operate a number of this model aircraft. http://aviationweek.com/awinbizav/guardian-flight-adds-king-air-c90-eagle-air-med-base Having flown the King Air 200 - I can say it's a really stable, easy to fly turboprop (PT 6 engines if I remember correctly). It also will fly just fine on one engine if one quits (but I wouldn't want to test that in icing conditions). According to the historical radar there was no serious weather (cloud cover perhaps but nothing painting on the radar as far as more than light precip and clouds). Radar Data Map | GIS Maps | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) The route of flight if going direct would have them going over water much of the way, probably why the Coast Guard is such an active part of the search. It stated they had one pilot and the flight nurse and paramedic. It's legal to fly a King Air 200 with one pilot. Most companies with turboprops fly with two, both trained in the airplane, but for outfits with short profit margins, they often do not. No names released as far as the crew.

 

[flute4peace]

Oh no! I know a flight nurse in Alaska. Slim chance of it being him but following anyway. How scary for the families!

 

[gliving]

The National Transportation Safety Board was contacted Tuesday evening about the missing plane, Alaska chief Clint Johnson said.

The plane departed Anchorage between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. under instrument flight conditions, Johnson said. Because Kake has no air-traffic control tower, the pilot communicated with the Anchorage center.

Preliminary information indicates controllers cleared the Guardian flight for approach at Kake, he said. “They never arrived.”


Coast Guard searches for overdue air ambulance in Southeast Alaska

 

[JerseyGirl]

UPDATE: Search continues day after Alaska ambulance aircraft goes missing

more crews are coming in to assist in the search in addition to the search personnel mobilized yesterday who would again be participating in the efforts.

 

[cybervampira]

The Latest: Planes grounded because of missing Alaska flight

An official with a medical flight firm says the company’s Alaska aircraft have been grounded while the Coast Guard searches for an overdue air ambulance with three people on board.

Guardian Flight spokesman Jim Gregory says the grounding of the aircraft gives company employees a chance to reflect on the three crew members and pray for them. A pilot, a nurse and a paramedic are aboard.

 

[GraceG]

Here's a link to the Instrument approach they likely would have been doing (from www.airnav.com hit "airports" button and then type in city and state you are looking for.) The black "lines" are the approach path. They would have been over water until very short final. https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1901/09231R11.PDF

 

[flute4peace]

The Latest: Planes grounded because of missing Alaska flight

This is a nice gesture.

 

[flute4peace]

Here's a link to the Instrument approach they likely would have been doing (from www.airnav.com hit "airports" button and then type in city and state you are looking for.) The black "lines" are the approach path. They would have been over water until very short final. https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/1901/09231R11.PDF

I always appreciate your input/knowledge.

 

[crhedBngr]

Heavy-duty prayers going up . . .

 

[cybervampira]

Timeline at link.

The Latest: Investigators study data of missing Alaska plane

 

[moonriverfarm]

Second lost plane in this weather. The other in Canada, but also a King Air.

 

[cybervampira]

Search for missing medical plane continues in Alaska

The Alaska Army National Guard has joined a widening dragnet spearheaded by the Coast Guard to find a medical plane that disappeared Tuesday night.

 

[gliving]

Federal accident investigators have reviewed the radar flight information of a medical airplane that went missing with three people aboard while en route to pick up a patient in Kake.

Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board in Alaska, said no clues have been immediately found in the electronic search Wednesday of archived data showing the flight pattern of the missing King Air 200 plane operated by Guardian Flight.

“The electronic locating transmitter on the aircraft is not broadcasting,” Randy Lyman, senior vice president of operations for Guardian Flight, said in an interview with the Empire Wednesday.

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/c...r-overdue-medical-flight-in-southeast-alaska/

 

[doodles1211]

So, most likely they were flying over water??

Google Maps

 

[gliving]

So, most likely they were flying over water??

View attachment 166714

Google Maps

Yes. I used to live on a nearby island. It's all mountains and water. There's hardly any flat land around where one could land a plane. There are no roads connecting the islands so all travel is by boat or plane. All supplies ie groceries are brought by barge.

 

[gliving]

This is from a local newspaper. Not good:

BULLETIN: At press time today there was an unofficial report from authorities in Kake that pieces believed to be from the overdue medevac plane have been discovered by searchers near Pt. Gardner on the south end of Admiralty Island, about 25 miles west of Kake.


Search on in SE For Missing Medic Plane

 

[gliving]

Google Maps

 

[gliving]

Guardian Flight - Twitter Search

Latest tweet has info on flight nurse who was aboard the plane. Unofficial tweet so I can't link here.

 

[gliving]

USCGAlaska‏Verified account @USCGAlaska
#UPDATE-The search continues for the overdue aircraft near Kake, #Alaska. It was reported debris from a plane was located in the water, but we cannot confirm it is from the overdue aircraft. Read more here: https://bit.ly/2MFZuFi . #USCG #CoastGuard #Responsive