Cessna 207 Went Down On Shore Of Iliamna Lake

Guardsmen of the 211th Rescue Squadron, Alaska Air National Guard, assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in the rescue of a pilot of a Cessna 207 that went down on the northwest shore of Iliamna Lake on November 21, 2024.

The Coast Guard dispatched an HH-60 Jayhawk from Air Station Kodiak, and the 176th Operations Group search and rescue duty officer dispatched the HC-130J Combat King of the 211th from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson after the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was notified of the crash.

The HC-130 was already airborne on a training flight and it took about 40 minutes for it to arrive at the crash site.

Maj. George Geiges, 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130 combat systems officer said, “We accepted the mission and climbed high-level and got out there as fast as we could. It was about a 40-minute flight. As we got on station, we got a working frequency from the RCC because there was another air taxi in the area who was talking to the survivor. He was able to give us a situation overview, letting us know he had crash-landed on shore, and he seemed OK.”

Geiges praised the pilot for being prepared and placing an orange engine cover in front of his aircraft to make it more visible, and the HC-130 was able to contact the pilot once they were close. Turns out he was uninjured and had warm clothes and supplies for several hours.

Using the electro-optical/infrared camera mounted on the nose of his aircraft, Geiges was able to obtain a target of the pilot and pinpoint his coordinates with a laser rangefinder.

Geiges said, “Once the Coast Guard helicopter got closer to the scene of the crash, we established communications with them, and gave a situation overview — what the pilot state was, what the aircraft state was — vectored them in to the survivor’s location.”

The Jayhawk helo landed, the crew did a quick assessment of the pilot’s condition, and then transported him to the Iliamna clinic for further evaluation.

FMI:  www.nationalguard.mil/