Mahoney called talented, cautious pilot

TALKEETNA -- Memorial services will be held Monday night at Talkeetna Elementary School for Keli Mahoney, co-owner of McKinley Air Service who died Wednesday when her Cessna 185 crashed in the Alaska Range near Mount McKinley.

The 35-year-old Talkeetna resident was piloting three passengers to Kahilta Glacier base camp. Bruce Andrews, a guide for Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna; his client Bruce Wagoner of Snow Camp, N.C.; and flightseer Carol Disselbrett of Salem, Ore., also died upon impact.

Weather was clear for the flight, which began in Talkeetna at 1 p.m. Investigators have not learned the cause of the accident, and a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said it could take months to find out what happened.

Meanwhile, co-workers and former clients from throughout the U.S. remembered Mahoney as an enthusiastic woman who loved adventure but was talented and cautious in the air. Annie Duquette of Talkeetna, a dispatcher for McKinley Air for four years and former base camp manager, said Mahoney was one of the most trustworthy of all glacier pilots.

"She had a natural talent for flying," Duquette said. "She was very conservative, and if I ever felt I needed to get out of base camp for emergency reasons she would have been one of few pilots I'd want."

Mahoney opened the air taxi service more than a decade ago with LeeAnn Wetzel. Theirs was the only such company begun by women, and among just a few worldwide operated by women.

The Talkeetna company has been receiving a steady stream of calls from former clients who've heard about the crash and wanted to express their sympathy.

"People who have taken scenics with her are calling from all over the Lower 48," Duquette said.

The company, advertised as "Two Babes and a Bird," had an accident-free record during 11 years of landings in the Alaska Range. Mahoney started flying while in high school, and piloted a TWA commuter in Boston during her 18-year career. She moved to Alaska in 1991 to pursue a mushing and flying lifestyle. Mahoney worked for an air taxi company in Bethel during her first two years in the state.

Nina Kemppel, former captain of the women's U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team, was among those who flew with McKinley Air. Kemppel shared her feelings about the company with a quote on McKinley Air's Web site, saying, "Keli and LeeAnn, you are the coolest babes in the air. I would fly with you anywhere."

Flying was just one of Mahoney's passions. She also operated McKinley Kennels, and competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and the Yukon Quest. She finished 30th in the 1997 Iditarod.

In her Iditarod Trail Committee biography, she said running dogs gave her tremendous happiness.

"The closeness felt cannot be matched by any other event as you cross the finish line in Nome with your best friends leading the way," she said.

During recent years Mahoney had flown race fans along the Iditarod Trail during the annual run from Anchorage to Nome.

The crash occurred at the 8,200-foot level. National Park spokesman John Quinley said the agency has given information about terrain there to a Big Lake helicopter company that will recover the wreckage.

"We're giving them advice about how to set down safely," he said.

It was unsure whether Norther Pioneer helicopter company would take the plane out in one piece, or partially disassemble it before removal, Quinley said. The National Transportation Safety Board will determine where the aircraft is taken for further inspection.

Recovery of the plane began Friday morning, according Maureen McLaughlin of the Talkeetna Ranger Station.

Alaska Claims Services of Wasilla is acting as insurance adjuster in the incident.