Aviator Spent Two Days In Woods

A pilot is out of the woods, literally, after being rescued by the Alaska Air National Guard’s 210th Rescue Squadron on March 1. Ted Greene, an Anchorage resident in his mid-70s, called in a mayday report after his plane crashed and was hung up in a clump of trees in the Skwenta area, about 60 miles northwest of Anchorage on Feb. 29.

The plane, a Piper PA-15, went down shortly after Mr. Greene dropped off snow machines at Toehead Lake. The mayday, originally heard by a commercial aircraft crew, was garbled. The identification of the aircraft could not be deciphered, and there was no emergency locator transmitter signal. Alaska Air National Guard’s Rescue Coordination Center officials directed the launch of a 210th Rescue Squadron HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter and an HC-130 Hercules rescue tanker. Pararescuemen from Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage were aboard the aircraft.

The two aircraft flew search patterns for six hours into the early morning of March 1 before returning to Kulis ANG Base because snow and rain made rescue flights unsafe. The 210th Rescue Squadron launched a Pave Hawk helicopter at first light March 1 and located the downed aircraft in their initial daylight search. Mr. Greene was rescued at about 8:33 a.m. "(Before) launch this morning, we had Air Guard and Civil Air Patrol on standby," said Maj. Rick Watson of the RCC. "We had three to four civilians with snow machines who volunteered to do ground searches. We had tremendous volunteer support."

Mr. Greene was taken to Providence Medical Center for evaluation and is listed in good condition. "It’s a positive way to start a Monday off with a rescue," said Maj. Mike Haller, a Guard spokesman. "We are very thankful Mr. Greene is home safe with his family, and that the Alaska National Guard could be of assistance."

Here is the initial report filed by the NTSB representatives.

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**                  Report created 3/2/2004                                           **
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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 4492H        Make/Model: PA15      Description: PA-15 Vagabond
  Date: 02/29/2004     Time:     
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: SKWENTNA                    State: AK   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT CRASHED ENROUTE TO MERRILL FIELD ARPT ANCHORAGE (MRI) AND SUSTAINED  SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN. SKWENTNA, AK

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: UNKN                                                                       
                                                                                 
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Cruise      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: ANCHORAGE, AK MRI           Dep Date: 02/29/2004   Dep. Time:     
  Destination: ANCHORAGE, AK MRI        Flt Plan: NONE         Wx Briefing: N
  Last Radio Cont: UNKN
  Last Clearance: UNKN
  FAA FSDO: ANCHORAGE, AK  (AL03)                 Entry date: 03/02/2004

FMI: www.af.mil, www.faa.gov