Miracle! Pilot and 2 Children Survive Plane Crash; Rescued After 12 Hours on Airplane Wing in Frozen Lake
Pilot and Two Children Miraculously Survive Night on Crashed Plane’s Wing in Icy Alaska Lake
A pilot and his two young family members defied the odds, enduring nearly 12 hours atop the wing of their crashed Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser after it plunged into the frigid waters of Tustumena Lake on Sunday night.
The trio, rescued Monday morning by the Alaska National Guard, owe their survival to a Good Samaritan’s sharp eyes and a chain of swift responses in a tale of grit and luck on the Kenai Peninsula.
Terry Godes, a local pilot, spotted the wreckage near the lake’s eastern edge after joining a search spurred by a Sunday night Facebook plea. “It broke my heart at first, thinking the worst,” Godes told the Associated Press Tuesday.
“But then I saw three figures on the wing—alive, waving.” The plane, on a sightseeing jaunt from Soldotna to Skilak Lake, had vanished amid the rugged, wind-whipped terrain of the 24,200-hectare lake, notorious for its sudden gales, per the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Dale Eicher, another pilot, relayed Godes’ radio alert to troopers, pinpointing coordinates despite spotty cell service and a cloud-shrouded search area. “Finding them alive within an hour was a shock—pure good news,” Eicher said.
The Guard airlifted the shivering survivors—suffering non-life-threatening injuries—to a hospital, Alaska State Troopers confirmed.
Temperatures dipped into the 20s Fahrenheit (subzero Celsius), yet the plane’s wing and rudder peeked above the icy water, a lifeline that didn’t sink. “It’s a miracle they stayed up there, cold and wet, all night,” Godes marveled.
The National Transportation Safety Board is probing the crash’s cause, with a preliminary report due within 30 days. For now, the Kenai community breathes relief, hailing a rare triumph over Alaska’s unforgiving wilds.
