Valley men found by 4-wheelers after plane trouble

MAT-SU — Two local men walked away from an emergency landing with a Cessna 170 in the Knik River Valley Thursday night.

According to Alaska State Troopers, pilot David. W. Akers, 51, Palmer, and his passenger, Gary D. Nall, 46, Wasilla, hiked away from the crash site and were found about 2 a.m. Saturday by a group of U.S. Air Force men four-wheeling in the Knik River Valley about 15 miles from the Old Glenn Highway.

Akers and Nall were transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Neither could be reached for comment.

Investigation revealed the two men had departed the Palmer Airport at 7 p.m. on Thursday for a sight-seeing flight into the Knik Glacier drainage, Troopers report. Akers reported a downdraft required him to make a controlled landing in the terrain in what is possibly the area of Friday Creek.

The two men then hiked toward the Knik River, traveling along an ATV trail until they ran into the group of men who rescued them, the report says. The two had been walking on and off for 30 hours.

According to an earlier report, no flight plan was filed.

At about 12:18 a.m. on Friday, AST received a report of the missing aircraft. Family members expected both Akers and Nall back by dark on Thursday.

The Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) did not report any corresponding ELT activations. AST’s Helo-1 and an observer flew for approximately eight hours on Friday in search of the missing aircraft, but were unable to locate the plane.