Guardian Flight announced today that its search for the missing plane in Frederick Sound has turned up what is believed to be an unknown part of the aircraft that went down in late January with three aboard, while on approach to the village of Kake, Alaska.
The plan had been on a medical transport mission, dispatched from Anchorage to pick up a patient, and the four aboard (including an unborn child) have not been found. The official search was called off, but the company has continued its search for the plane and its occupants.
“Our search team, utilizing side scanning sonar technology, has located what might possibly turn out to be an unknown part of our missing aircraft in the extended search area. Indications are the object is possibly 25 feet long by 6 to 8 feet wide. It is at approximately 600 feet deep in Frederick Sound and within a mile of the underwater beacon signals from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (Black Box). In order to properly identify the object, our next step is to re-launch a submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle, which will take a number of days to accomplish. We are hopeful that this might be a positive step in the process to recover our missing friends and return them to their families. We will keep this space updated as soon as we know more,” said Randy Lyman, Guardian Flight’s senior vice president of operations.
The three missing and presumed lost are pilot Patrick Coyle, 63, flight nurse Stacie Rae Morse, 30, and flight paramedic Margaret Langston Allen, 43, all based in Juneau. Morse was carrying an unborn child, due in April.