Missing Plane Located in Katmai National Park

September 29, 2010 10 a.m.


National Park Service News Release

Missing Plane Located in Katmai NP



Debris from the plane carrying three National Park Service employees in
Katmai National Park was located on the park’s rugged northern coast on
Wednesday.
Katmai National Park Superintendent Ralph Moore said he was notified by a
local helicopter pilot, Sam Egli, that he had spotted portions of the
aircraft, including a piece of the tail with identifying numbers, on a
narrow section of beachabout 10 miles northwest of Sukoi Bay. Egli was en
route to an unrelated commercial flying job when he made the discovery.
The single engine floatplane, a deHavilland Beaver operated by Branch River
Air Service in King Salmon, carried the pilot and three National Park
Service maintenance employees and has been missing since August 21.
National Park Service and military personnel are headed to the site this
morning to secure the debris and continue the search for additional
wreckage. The accident investigation will be conducted by the National
Transportation Safety Board.
The employees who were on board the aircraft were Mason McLeod, 26, and two
brothers, Neal Spradlin, 28; and Seth Spradlin, 20. The pilot was Marco
Alletto, 47, from King Salmon. Egli told the park there was no indication
of survivors.
The discovery of the plane comes after more than a month of aerial and
ground searching by national park, military and civilian personnel. More
than 60,000 miles of flying was done, at times with more than a dozen
aircraft working search patterns over the 4 million acre park. The area
where the debris was found had been flown over by the National Park Service
as recently as Monday, and rangers had walked the beach just a few miles
west of the debris site. High tides and high east winds on Monday and
Tuesday are thought to have helped make the debris visible from the air.

From Deanne Adams. IRF President.