PORT ALSWORTH, Alaska — A pilot whose downed aircraft was found burning within Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park and Preserve has been identified as a 22-year-old man who was from Pemberville, Ohio.
The plane’s operator, Regal Air of Anchorage, identified the Cessna 206’s pilot as Joel Black, park spokesman Megan Richotte said.
Mr. Black was an alumnus of Eastwood High School, where he’d been a sprinter on the track team.
“He was just happy-go-lucky and put a smile on your face with his smile,” track Coach Brian Sabo said. “He was a hard worker.”
Alaska Dispatch News reported that the plane was carrying freight.
Ms. Richotte said park rangers and Alaska State Troopers on Thursday night landed at the crash site about 160 miles southwest of Anchorage. The body was recovered and then flown to the state medical examiner's office in Anchorage.
She says the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
Park officials were notified that a plane's emergency locator went off in the Miller Creek drainage within the national preserve Thursday morning. Park rangers flew to the site, but could not land there.
First Published July 29, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
