Déjà vu: Fatal crash not MEA’s first

MAT-SU — As Mat-Su Valley residents and employees of Matanuska Electric Association mourn the loss of a colleague in a plane crash this week, they’re also reminded of an eerily similar tragic crash more than four decades earlier.

Cheryll Heinze, 65, MEA’s director of Human Resources and Public Affairs and a former state legislator, was killed Tuesday when a small plane piloted by cooperative CEO Evan “Joe” Griffith, 71, crashed during a water landing on Beluga Lake near Homer.

The plane crash is 44 years removed from another that killed three MEA employees. That plane, a Cessna 185, was also piloted by the co-op’s chief executive officer, Mason LaZelle. He was killed, along with operations superintendent Phil McRae and electrician Alex Fuller. The three men were aboard the Cessna on Feb. 27, 1968, when it took off from the Palmer airfield en route to Nulato and Unalakleet.

The plane never arrived, sparking what Frontiersman coverage at the time described as one of Alaska’s largest aerial search efforts.

The search culminated nearly five months later on July 24, 1968, when the plane and remains of the men were found about 128 miles from Palmer, south of the Cathedral Mountains.

Today, MEA employees are dealing with their grief while continuing to serve customers, said communications manager Kevin Brown.

“They’re doing the best they can in a very difficult situation,” he said. “They’re focusing on their jobs, but everyone’s shell-shocked. Cheryll was a huge part of all our lives and her absence leaves a giant hole. They’re amazing professionals, they really are.”

Grief counselors are available to MEA employees at all of the organization’s offices, Brown said, adding that while dealing with the death of a coworker is difficult, the cooperative still needs to provide electricity and move forward.

“We have a major generation station project that is under way and it will finish on time and this will not slow us down,” Brown said. “We’ll cry, we’ll put our heads down and we’ll continue to do our jobs. That’s what she would want.”

Heinze and Griffith were among five MEA executives aboard the Cessna 206 on floats, Brown said, including Tony Zellers, director of the Eklutna generation station; Tony Izzo, manager of fuel supply and contracts for the Eklutna project and a past president of Enstar; and Eddie Taunton, MEA’s safety manager. With the exception of Heinze, other passengers reported minor injuries.

The group was part of a larger contingent of MEA representatives going to the lake for a fishing trip, Brown said. Others were making the trip by land.

Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters said the plane landed on Beluga Lake before sinking with Heinze trapped inside.

“They got her out, got a pulse, but she died before they could get her on the medevac,” Peters said.

Troopers responded to the scene at 10:40 p.m., Tuesday, according to a trooper press statement. Troopers say they contacted Homer Police Department and Homer Fire Department, and a rescue boat was launched.

Clint Johnson, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said it is too early to speculate as to what might have caused the crash.

“It’s very much in the preliminary stages and that’s obviously why we sent two folks down there,” he said. “They’re in the process of formulating a plan.”

Heinze is a former state legislator who won election in 2002 and represented a piece of Anchorage that stretched between Midtown and the south side for one term.

“I had the pleasure of serving with her on the Resources Committee during her term in office and found her to be an engaged, informed and passionate legislator,” said Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, in a statement. “She cared deeply about our state, and focused her time in Juneau on a range of issues, including victim’s rights, anti-stalking measures, energy, and the fisheries.”

Heinze’s resume with the House Republicans from the time states she was a professional artist who at times owned an antique shop and a guiding service, who held a teaching certificate and was born in Wewoka, Okla., but moved to Alaska at age 5.

Her husband, Harold Heinze, also works for MEA. He is the cooperative’s executive project adviser for the Eklutna Generation Station project. Prior to that, he headed up the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority, and prior to that he was president of ARCO, Alaska.

Griffith, who has helmed the power company since 2009 and formerly was CEO for Chugach Electric Association, is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and experienced small-plane and fighter jet pilot. He’s also owner of the plane that crashed.

Gov. Sean Parnell has ordered state flags be flown at half-staff on Friday in memory of Heinze.

Managing editor Heather A. Resz contributed to this story.

Memorial services in honor of former legislator Cheryll Heinze, Matanuska Electrical Association’s director of Human Resources and Public Affairs, are set for 5:30 p.m., July 17 at Lazy Mountain Bible Church in Palmer.

Heinze was killed in a floatplane crash on Beluga Lake near Homer Tuesday, July 10, 2012.