2 injured in Rainy Pass plane crash

RAINY PASS — Two men overflying the Iron Dog snowmachine race were severely injured when their plane crashed Sunday afternoon.

According to a press release from Alaska State Troopers, the crash was reported at 4:17 p.m. On board at the time were Robert D. Stone, 44, and Jason A. Wichman, 31, both of Anchorage.

“The plane was reported to be a Cessna 170B that crashed at the end of a lake near the (Rainy Pass Lodge) after making a sharp turn,” according to the AST report.

A call for help summoned rescuers with the Alaska National Guard.

“The folks at Rainy Pass Lodge did a tremendous job and deserve a lot of credit,” Senior Master Sgt. Robert Carte says in a National Guard press release. “They organized getting the people out of the crash and provided a location for immediate medical care.”

Lodge owner Steve Perrins said via Skype from the lodge Monday afternoon that the weekend was a busy one for him and his family, with the Iron Dog Trail Class and Pro Class racers coming through.

“Trail Class was on Friday,” Perrins said. “She cooked for 43 people that night.”

He said that just before the plane went down, Iron Dog racers Todd Palin and Scott Davis had pulled in. The plane was in a spot that is notorious for downdrafts when Stone decided to turn back.

“I think he realized that he wasn’t going to make it,” Perrins said. But making the turn “stalled it, nosed it right into the lake.”

There were plenty of people at the lodge, he said. Two of his sons went to help as did an emergency medical technician from a nearby mine and an Anchorage Yamaha dealer Perrins described as “a big guy. He played professional basketball. He ripped the door off of the plane.”

He said gas was leaking out of the wing of the Cessna, but with help from a reciprocating saw they extricated Stone and Wichman.

“The passenger was really in bad shape, I was surprised that he lived,” Perrins said. “Jason was never conscious, his eyes were non-responsive.”

He said that he first called for a rescue 10 minutes after the plane went down, but it took a while to get the right people on the phone.

“I was told today that the Rescue Coordination Center at Elmendorf should always be the one to call,” he said.

While they waited for a response — the National Guard helicopter wasn’t on the ground for two hours — they teamed up and made sure the two men kept breathing. Stone was awake the whole time, sometimes screaming.

“We hauled them into the main lodge and created kind of a MASH unit in the dining room,” Perrins said.

Once the guard’s helicopter landed, Perrins said, the two men were loaded up and off the ground in 38 minutes.

Troopers say Stone was taken to Alaska Native Medical Center and Wichman to Providence Alaska Medical Center. According to a Providence spokesperson, Wichman was in critical condition Monday afternoon.

The case has been handed over to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, which, troopers say, are making arrangements to get out to Rainy Pass.

Stone is listed as a pilot in the FAA’s databases. KTUU reports he is a well-known Anchorage attorney. His website indicates he specializes in personal injury cases in automobile, watercraft and aircraft accidents.

Wichman was apparently supposed to race in the Iron Dog this year but bowed out due to injury.

The Iron Dog snowmachine race, billed as the longest in the world, follows the Iditarod Trail from Big Lake to Nome and then continues on to Fairbanks where the race is set to finish Feb. 23.

“It’s really helpful when you’ve got that many people who aren’t panicking,” Perrins said.

And while he said he and his family will be praying for Wichman, considering the state of the plane after it went down, his survival is already miraculous.

“It’s amazing that anybody got out of that thing alive,” Perrins said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.