A small plane carrying three passengers from Juneau to Yakutat disappeared over the weekend, launching a search and rescue effort that has so far yielded more questions than answers.
Samuel “Sam” Wright, a seasoned pilot from Haines with decades of experience navigating southeast, took off from Juneau on Saturday. On board with him were Hans Munich and Tanya Hutchins, a couple returning home to Yakutat after a trip. Munich is also a longtime pilot. He and Hutchins run a charter flight business.
The initial alarm was raised when the aircraft, a 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza, failed to arrive at its destination. Coast Guard spokesperson Shannon Kearney said the agency got a call about an overdue plane at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday. The agency put out a marine broadcast just after 6 p.m. and sent out the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark about half an hour later.
Soon they launched a MH-60T helicopter from Sitka and C-130 from Kodiak and partnered with Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center to search for the plane. Searchers scoured the Fairweather Mountain Range, focusing their efforts near Mount Crillon at the southern end, where the plane’s radar signal stopped abruptly.
“The flight tracking stops around 10,000 feet,” said Coast Guard public affairs officer Mike Salerno. “I can tell you that at that altitude the search assets have been encountering a lot of cloud coverage.”
The search extended into its third day Monday, and at one point the Civil Air Patrol reported finding something – but the Coast Guard was unable to verify that and ultimately decided to suspend the search by that evening, according to Salerno.
“It’s a very mountainous area,” Salerno said, “and the altitude combined with cloud cover is impacting visual searching.”
In the tight-knit aviation community, the news has been devastating – particularly in Southeast Alaska’s remote communities which often rely on planes and ferries to get around, and to get work done.
“Hans and Tanya have been instrumental to the bear research program for the past 15 years,” said Fish and Game bear research biologist Anthony Crupi. “Their friendship and contribution to brown bear conservation will be sorely missed.”
Haines Rafting Company owner and manager Andy Hedden said he has also been working with Hans and Tanya for the past 15 years. Their business provided bush flights for his rafting groups arriving in Dry Bay on the Alsek River.
“Hans was one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. He was a hard worker and took meticulous care of his aircraft,” Hedden said. “He was as trustworthy a pilot as they come. Tanya was the friendly voice that took reservations and kept us informed when the flights took off. The two of them provided flight service for a number of lodges, fishermen and adventures. They will be sorely missed.”
In Haines friends and family said Wright is known not just for his piloting skills, but for his warm demeanor, jokes, and for being a familiar face at Fort Seward, where he was the cannoneer for ceremonial events – everything from the Lighting of the Fort, marking the beginning of the holiday season, to the Fourth of July bloomer blast, where people in town take bets on how far a pair of underwear will fly when he’d shoot it out of the cannon.
“He’s a heck of a nice guy. We’re all going to miss him,” said Terry Pardee, a longtime friend and who frequently flew with Wright.
Bill Thomas, another close friend who had also shared many flights with Wright, recalled their experiences fondly.
“He was a good friend,” Thomas said.
Thomas, who was a member of the state legislature from 2005-2013, said he got to know Wright because the pilot worked for Wings Airways and flew him back and forth to Juneau often. He joked that it felt like Wright was his personal jet service.
“Pretty much. We always laughed about that. He’d leave in the morning, and I’d like that and he’d be back at night,” he said.
Thomas was an airplane mechanic crew chief in Vietnam and said he felt safe flying with Wright.
“I enjoyed flying with Sam because he took care of his planes,” Thomas said. “He did an honest preflight, I would call it, and he knew what to look for.”
As the search dragged on and in the aftermath of its suspension, Wright’s partner Annette Smith, said the community has rallied around the families and friends of those on board.
“Haines is a wonderful community for people gathering together when there is a problem and tragedy and I really am very grateful for that,” Smith said.
Wright’s son is in town, and Smith said her sister is coming. And despite the suspension of the official search there is still lingering hope among Wright’s loved ones that he may yet make it home. Smith said her ideal resolution would be to find the wreckage and retrieve him.
“But the practicality of that – I’m a very practical person – practicality is elusive,” she said.
She said Wright’s family and Munich’s family are talking about continuing to search on their own.
“We’ll decide what to do after that, it’s kind of a one step at a time kind of thing,” she said.
But, she said, Wright and Munich were seasoned pilots, so they would understand the decision-making.
“Sam’s been flying since he was a teenager,” she said. “They know what they’re up against.”
• This story was originally published by the Chilkat Valley News.
