AM 890 and kbbi.org: Serving the Kenai Peninsula
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Search Underway For Missing Plane On Kenai Peninsula

ak.ng.mil

A search and rescue operation is underway for three people aboard a flight that went missing Jan. 29 in southcentral Alaska.

The Cessna 180 departed Lake Hood that afternoon en route to the Kenai Peninsula. The flight was reported overdue later that day.

Shortly thereafter, calls began coming in to the Rescue Coordination Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson about an emergency locator signal transmitted from the area.

The Alaska Air National Guard sent out two HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters each with a team of Guardian Angel para-rescuemen.

“So, they launched yesterday and searched through the day, through the night, and were unable to find them," said Staff Sgt. Edward Eagerton, a public affairs specialist with the guard. "They had to return to base, refuel, re-set, that kind of thing, and are continuing to search today.”

Alaska’s Civil Air Patrol is also assisting with the search.

So far, it’s been hard to pinpoint an exact location of the plane, in part due to the older model of transmitter it was using, which is 121.5 MHz, said Eagerton.

“They send out a signal and [it's] picked up by other aircraft flying around," said Eagerton. "Depending on the altitude of the aircraft [and] the strength of the signal, it can leave kind of a large area to search, whereas the 406 [MHz transmitters] will send a signal right up to a satellite and practically give you driving instructions to the location.”

As of Monday afternoon, there were no official ground searches underway.

The passengers and pilot have not yet been identified. However, the Alaska District Church of the Nazarene posted on Facebook last night that three of its Soldotna area members may have been on board.