Wasilla man killed in crash

Plane goes down near Beluga Lake, pilot Curtis Menard Jr. dies

By JO C. GOODE - Frontiersman reporter

BELUGA LAKE - A local orthodontist was killed Thursday when the airplane he was piloting crashed near the mouth of Beluga Lake near Tyonek, Alaska State Troopers reported Friday.

Curtis C. Menard Jr., 36, of Wasilla, was found dead in the wreckage of his Cessna 185 airplane Thursday at around 10:18 p.m. by members of the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) from Fort Richardson, according to troopers.

Menard was the sole occupant of the airplane.

Menard was the oldest son of Mat-Su School Board member Linda Menard and her husband, Curtis Menard Sr., a longtime Valley dentist and former state senator.

Curtis Menard Jr., who graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982, lived in Wasilla with his wife, Carole B. Menard, and their four children. He ran Valley Orthodontics on Bogard Road.

Trooper spokesperson Greg Wilkinson said Friday that Menard was planning to land the airplane on Beluga Lake to pick up family members. However, the airplane crashed on land approximately 1 1-2 miles before it reached the water.

Menard's brother, daughter and nephew were later located waiting at the lake for the arrival of his plane, troopers said. Menard's three family members, who all live in Wasilla, were flown by helicopter to Palmer.

After finding the downed airplane Thursday evening, the RCC was unable to recover Menard's body from the wreckage because of darkness and terrain, troopers reported.

On Friday morning, Scott Erickson of the National Transportation Safety Board in Anchorage, along with the RCC and troopers, flew to the crash site to recover Menard's body and investigate the wreckage.

At 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, Menard's body was transported to the state's Medical Examiner in Anchorage, Wilkinson said.

Troopers said the search for Menard's missing aircraft began when the RCC at Fort Richardson received a signal from the airplane's emergency locator transmitter, which sent out a signal beacon on impact, Wilkinson said. After they began the ELT search, troopers said they discovered the wreckage of the Cessna at the northeast end of Beluga Lake near the mouth.