Search and Rescue Mission

I'm going to need some help Sunday. A close friend is overdue on a flight of some naturalists into the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. All I know is that he took a ski plane and was planning to drop three guys off on a glacier over on the Kenai Peninsula, somewhere in the general vicinity of 59 deg. 30 min. N, 151 deg W. He has been missing two days, but I haven't been able to look for him because the weather has been below minimums. However, it looks like it is going to break a little on Sunday. The forecast for Sunday is thunderstorms with a solid (8/ overcast from 3000' MSL to 7500' MSL, with light rain and a wind of 15 Kts at 60 degrees. Visibility is expected to be 2 miles. That's terrible weather, but this may be our only chance to find him alive.

If you're up to it, meet me at Homer, Alaska (PAHO) at 1500 Z on Sunday (8/24). We'll divi up the area and go have a look. There are no nav aids over there, so you'll need the Seward sectional. You can get that at www.skyvector.com, just click on charts and look for the map of Alaska. Blow it up, because you're going to need to do some of that old "nap of the earth" flying. Come in something with a good rate of climb, because some of those clouds out there have solid centers. A ski plane would be great, but there's no snow in Homer, so it's wheels or pontoons. If we find him, we'll get a guy with skis to go get him. OBTW, make sure your NDB and ILS are working, you'll probably want them to get back into Homer.

Mike

Mike Daugherty
SPA48
MSP Hub Manager (on vacation in Homer, Alaska)

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edited by: Westcoast, Aug 22, 2008 - 09:33 PM

I've posted the relevant part of the sectional in the Photos section.

Mike

Dave,

I just expected to use Teamspeak and FSHost. I don't know about ATC; I just thought we'd do some VFR flying under difficult weather conditions in mountainous terrain.

Mike