Hunters rescued by the US Army National Guard in Alaska
Two moose hunters and their pilot had to be rescued by a US Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after their plane crashed near the western coast of Alaska.
Two moose hunters and their pilot had to be rescued by a US Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after their plane crashed near the western coast of Alaska.
Airmen from Alaska Army National Guard’s 1-207th Aviation Battalion, stationed at the Guard’s Army Aviation Operating Facility in Bethel, were alerted to the crash of a Piper PA-22 near the small town of St. Mary’s around 21:00 hrs on 3 September, managing to locate the three people around an hour later.
The men had killed one moose and had flown to their base to drop their gear. They had then been flying back to the corpse when their plane crashed. “We found them on a hillside near the ridge line with the plane flipped over,” Capt. Andrew Adams, the Black Hawk pilot. “They didn’t have any of their gear, so they weren’t prepared for the elements and had no source for a fire. They were huddled near the fuselage under a tarp or cover, waiting for us, and it had become pretty dark at that point.”
The rescue crew was able to establish communication with the pilot and found the wreckage thanks to the pilot switching the downed planes lights on. Local news reports say that the men were unharmed.