The National Park Service rescued a German pilot from a Glacier Bay sand flat Friday after an engine malfunction forced the plane’s emergency landing.
Pilot Thorsten Kampe was uninjured, according to a Friday release from the National Parks Service.
At 1 p.m. Friday, crew on the cruise ship Island Princess contacted the National Park Service reporting a downed aircraft in front of the Grand Pacific Glacier at the head of Tarr Inlet. Park rangers responded to the scene and contacted Kampe, the pilot and lone occupant of the aircraft, who reported landing due to an apparent engine malfunction.
Kampe made his emergency landing in a sand flat, the release states. The nose of the plane was subsequently buried, breaking the propeller as Kampe taxied through soft sand. The pilot was taken onboard a Park Service vessel to Bartlett Cove.
Temsco Helicopters plans to salvage the aircraft, according to the release. National Park Service rangers on the ground in Glacier Bay weren’t immediately available for comment Saturday afternoon.
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 and kgullufsen@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @KevinGullufsen.
