Three people rescued after plane crash near Mt. Susitna

MT. SUSITNA — Three people were rescued after an airplane went down near Mt. Susitna Saturday.

According to a press release from the Alaska Air National Guard, at 1:30 p.m., Sept. 13 an emergency locator beacon went off west of Beluga Mountain.

The state Rescue Coordination Center confirmed it belonged to a Piper Super Cub that had left from Anchorage to fly near Beluga Mountain.

The guard sent in a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter from the 210th Rescue Squadron carrying a Guardian Angel team from the 212th Rescue Squadron.

The operation, as the guard describes it, seems to have gone off without a hitch.

“The crew flew directly to the coordinates transmitted from the 406, which was approximately 1.2 miles away from the aircraft; they searched for about one minute, located the downed aircraft and rescued the three people who had been onboard,” the press releases quotes Capt. John Romspert as saying. Romspert is a combat rescue officer and senior controller with the Alaska RCC.

Three people were flown from the crashed plane to Providence Alaska Medical Center where they were released shortly after 5 p.m. in good condition, the guard reports.

The guard did not release anyone names of the crash victims and generally does not in these types of situations.

The National Transportation Safety Board had a brief statement on its list of accident reports saying that investigators wouldn’t travel to the scene but would investigate the crash.

The NTSB listed an aircraft identification number for the Piper Super Cub that, in the Federal Aviation Administration’s database came back as registered to Anchorage resident Wesley Saunders.