Taildragger Nosed Over On Beach; Passengers OK

An alert ANN News-Spy tipped us to an interesting rescue recently up in Alaska, involving a US Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helo... and a Cessna 185 that was having a bad day.

Coast Guard officials tell ANN the Air Station Kodiak HH-65 was flying from Canada to Sitka, AK when its crew overheard an Emergency Locating Transmitter (ELT) signal as they neared Sitka. Shortly after hearing the signal, and attempting to use their direction finding equipment to locate the source, a radio call came in from a small plane on the beach at Shoals Point.

The owner of the plane was radioing to the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa, which was patrolling Sitka Sound, to see if he could get some assistance to move his plane up the beach away from the tideline; the plane had apparently nosed over while operating on the beach.

Fortunately, the two people onboard the plane were unharmed.

The Coast Guard helicopter landed on the beach and the Anacapa sent a small boat and crew over to assist as well. Together the crew was able to get the plane back up on its landing gear and move it up the beach away from the incoming tide.

The helicopter then transported the two people back to Sitka.

(Photo courtesy of the US Coast Guard)

FMI: www.uscgalaska.com