Helicopter crash kills four, Palmer 14-year-old found alive

By Andrew Wellner
Frontiersman

MAT-SU — The Alaska Air National Guard has located a helicopter that was flying near Sheep Mountain crashed about a mile off the Glenn Highway near Mile 117 Tuesday, killing four of five people on board.

According to an Air National Guard press statement, an Alaska State Trooper helicopter flew the survivor to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in unstable condition this morning.

Troopers identify the survivor as Quinn Ellington, 14, of Palmer. The four deceased are pilot Benoit Pin, 39, of Anchorage and passengers Thomas E. Middleton, 46, of Anchorage, Joseph C. O’Donnell, 48, of Girdwood and Michael D. Seward, 37, of Palmer.

Catherine Esary, spokeswoman for the Mat-Su Borough School District, said Ellington was a school district student but deferred further questions to troopers.

Authorities first became aware of the crash at about noon Tuesday when the state’s Rescue Coordination Center was notified of an active emergency locator beacon, the National Guard reports. The Gulkana Civil Air Patrol was launched but turned around due to bad weather. The center then sent an HC-130 airplane and HH-60 helicopter with pararescuemen onboard. The helicopter got to Palmer before it turned around due to the weather. The HC-130 made it to the crash site, but poor weather conditions prevented the crew from visually locating the wreckage and the plane turned around.

The pararescuemen, upon landing at Kulis Air National Guard Base, loaded up snowmachines and headed back out, the national guard reports. Searchers were active when troopers launched a helicopter this morning and, at around 7:30 a.m., spotted the crash site. The trooper helicopter picked up the pararescuemen and brought them to the crash site, where they found the survivor and loaded the patient into the helicopter, according to the press statement.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available. A more detailed version will also appear in Friday’s print edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.