Signal detected from missing Guardian Flight plane

Searchers have detected an underwater beacon from the Guardian Flight air ambulance that vanished en route to the Southeast community of Kake, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The plane with three crew members aboard departed Anchorage on Jan. 29 but never arrived in Kake. A three-day search turned up a piece of a wing near Kake, but there was no sign of the wreckage or three crew members aboard.

Randy Lyman, Guardian Flight’s vice president of operations, said a ping from the plane’s “black box” was detected Tuesday. Efforts to triangulate the signal and recover the twin-engine aircraft are expected to follow, he said in a statement.

Aboard were three Juneau residents: 63-year-old pilot Patrick Coyle, 30-year-old flight nurse Stacie Rae Morse, and 43-year-old paramedic Margaret Langston.

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications