Dunes City pilot Matt Hipkiss dies in Alaska airplane crash.Byline: From Register-Guard and news service reports Recovery crews were working Monday to retrieve the bodies of a pilot from Lane County and three other men killed Friday in plane crash in southwestern Alaska. Alaska Air National Guard The Alaska Air National Guard is the component of the United States Air National Guard operating within the state of Alaska. Alaska Air National Guard units are trained and equipped as part of the United States Air Force. Maj. Mike Haller said a Civil Air Patrol  The U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was created on 1 December, 1941 by Administrative Order 9, with Maj. Gen. John F. plane spotted the aircraft Sunday evening. The wreckage was found near Lake Clark Pass in the Chigmit Mountains The Chigmit Mountains are a subrange of the Aleutian Range in Alaska, United States. They are located at the northeastern end of the Aleutians, on the west side of Cook Inlet, roughly 120 miles (200 km) southwest of Anchorage. , about 120 miles west of Anchorage. The single-engine deHavilland Beaver, operated by Big Foot Air, had been reported overdue Friday on a flight from Lake Hood Lake Hood is a man-made recreational lake, located 6 km south-east of Tinwald in Canterbury, New Zealand. It was opened in 2001 by Right Honourable Jenny Shipley M.P. It is 2.3 km long by 1 km wide and is more than 80 hectares in area. in Anchorage to Iliamna Lake Iliamna Lake Lake, Alaska, U.S. The largest lake in Alaska and the second largest freshwater lake entirely within the U.S., it is 80 mi (129 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide and covers an area of 1,000 sq mi (2,600 sq km). , where the passengers were planning to fish. The pilot was identified as Matt Hipkiss, 35, who lived in Anchorage during the summer and in the Florence area during the rest of the year. The passengers were identified as Melvin Daniel, 79, of Renton, Wash; Daniel Maret, 70, of Black Diamond, Wash; Harold ``Ted'' Marney, 65, Renton, Wash. Hipkiss moved to the Florence area eight years ago and was a partner in a seaplane seaplane, airplane designed to take off from and alight on water. The two most common types are the floatplane, whose fuselage is supported by struts attached to two or more pontoon floats, and the flying boat, whose boat-hull fuselage is constructed with the ride business in Dunes City. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Dunes City Council in 1994. He had a two-year aviation science degree. The helicopter crew that landed at the crash site Sunday found the wings and tail had separated from the fuselage, and there was evidence of fire, an Alaska State Trooper spokesman said. The cause of the crash is not yet known. Dave Hines, Big Foot's operations director, said Hipkiss began working for the company in May and previously worked for other Alaska aviation companies. |
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