Plane makes emergency landing on Parks Highway

TALKEETNA -- A DHC-2 Dehavilland Beaver airplane from Talkeetna Air Taxi made an emergency landing Tuesday afternoon at Mile 130 Parks Hwy., after pilot Richard Olmstad smelled a strange odor and decided it was safer to land rather than continue on to the airport in Talkeetna.

The plane was returning from an air tour of Mount McKinley when Olmstad noticed the plane running a little rough. Olmstad and his six passengers from England were uninjured in the landing.

According to Danial Doty, director of maintenance at Talkeetna Air, one of nine cylinders in the engine cracked but the landing was only precautionary and not forced. Doty said it is much safer to land when something goes even slightly wrong rather than press on and potentially damage the plane even more.

"He initially thought he could fly it back but decided to land because there wasn't anyone on the road," Doty said. "I'm glad he landed because there was nothing else wrong."

Doty said the planes are checked every morning by pilots and every 100 hours by the mechanics. Olmstad's plane had only four miles to go before its 100-mile checkup.

Longtime Talkeetna Air Taxi manager Sandra White said it was the first time she can remember a plane from Talkeetna Air Taxi landing on the Parks Highway. White said that when the passengers got out of the plane, two black bears promptly wandered out of the woods and onto the Parks Highway, causing the passengers to climb back inside the plane.

Olmstad comes up from Washington every summer to work for Talkeetna Air and, according to White, is an experienced pilot who has flown with the company for approximately 10 years. White said the six passengers were in good spirits after the emergency landing, laughing and joking about having an Alaskan tale to tell.

The plan was repaired by a company mechanic at the scene and flown back to Talkeetna Airport later that day.