A single-engine airplane headed to the remote Yukon River village of Anvik crashed Saturday night after taking off from McGrath, about 225 miles northwest of Anchorage, killing the pilot and a passenger, according to Alaska State Troopers and the state's Air National Guard, which was called in to facilitate the difficult rescue and recovery.

A family of four who were also on board survived, according to Elizabeth Ipsen, a troopers spokesperson.

Killed in the crash were 66-year-old Ernest Chase of Aniak, the pilot of the Cessna 207, and 52-year-old Julia Walker of Anvik, Ipsen said in a late Sunday press release.

The survivors, a family that was new to Anvik, included two children, Donny and McKenzie Evans, and their parents, 32-year-olds Don and Rosemary Evans. 

According to Ipsen, it was possible that bad weather may have prompted Chase to turn back for McGrath shortly after take off.

The plane never made it back.

Flight overdue

The Air National Guard was alerted by troopers to an overdue airplane just before 10 p.m. Saturday. The airplane carried three Anvik school teachers -- Walker and Don and Rosemary Evans -- all headed to Anvik. At nearly the same time, according to statements from Alicia Goldberger and Kalei Rupp, two national guard staff sergeants, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter on the airplane.

Within three hours the Air Guard had dispatched to search for the downed Cessna an Air Force plane staffed with Alaska pararescuers, known as the "Guardian Angels," from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a military base immediately north of Anchorage.

Poor weather and low cloud cover hampered their rescue efforts for more than five hours. The plane returned to base about 6:20 a.m., after unsuccessfully maneuvering "below the cloud cover" of dissipating rain storms that covered much of the state overnight, according to Goldberger and Rupp.

By 9 a.m. Sunday morning, another Air Force C-130 Hercules airplane and Alaska Guard Pavehawk helicopter were en route north to locate the plane.

With better weather, pararescuers aboard located the Cessna, which had crashed into a mountainside "in steep terrain in a wooded area." Rescuers were lowered to the crash site and began to secure the victims for transport.  

The Evanses, along with the bodies of Chase and Walker, were taken back to McGrath. There, troopers took custody of the deceased and sent the Evans family back south, to Anchorage's Providence Alaska Medical Center, where they were treated for their injuries.

According to the Iditarod School District, Walker was an elementary school teacher at the Blackwell School in Anvik.

Other news outlets reported that survivors Don and Rosemary Evans were first-year teachers in the village of Anvik.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the crash, trooper spokesperson Ipsen said Sunday night.

Contact Eric Christopher Adams at eric(at)alaskadispatch.com