MEA flight overdue since yesterday; search hampered by bad weather

As published in the Feb. 29, 1968 edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

The missing Matanuska Electric Association plane with three men aboard had still not been located at Frontiersman press time today.

The plane, with pilot Mason LaZelle, MEA’s general manager; Phil McRae, general foreman; and Alex Fuller, electrician, aboard, left the Palmer airfield Tuesday morning. The pilot filed a flight plan which included an overnight stop at Nulato, with the flight plan to be closed at 2 p.m. at Unalakleet on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

LaZelle had stipulated, however, that if the plane were overdue not to institute a search until 8 p.m. yesterday.

At 8:30 p.m., the FAA altered a search, and a chopper went from Nulato to Kaltag, determining that the plane was not at these fields and had not filed a report.

No reports from the plane were filed at Farewell, McGrath, or Galena, check points on the route.

With the Civil Air Patrol in Anchorage coordinating the search, six planes left the Palmer field this morning. After completing their assigned missions, all returned, reporting bad weather in the passes.

A report from the McGrath side of the Alaska range, received at MEA early this afternoon, stated that every airstrip in the McGrath-Farewell area has been checked, with no success in locating the plane.

The FAA is now flying search missions on the McGrath side, MEA personnel said.

The plane normally carries a large quantity of survival gear, including a two-week supply of food for four, and temperatures are favorable, it was noted.

The Rescue Coordination Center in Anchorage said this afternoon that there are a number of small airstrips on the route that have not been checked because of the extremely low ceiling.

All three men are residents of the Palmer community.