A noted Alaskan wolf biologist has been killed in a plane crash in a remote area of Denali National Park and Preserve. The pilot, though he suffered burns, was able to walk out and alert authorities.
Dr. Gordon Haber and pilot Dan McGregor had left Wednesday for a flight over the northern end of the park to monitor wolf packs. When the Cessna 185 didn't return on schedule that evening, authorities were notified and an aerial search was mounted by the National Park Service and Alaska State Troopers.
Wreckage of the single-engine plane was spotted from the air Thursday afternoon on a steep slope west of the East Fork of the Toklat River, approximately seven miles north of the Denali Park Road, park officials said. "A search plane was able to land later in the afternoon on the river bar approximately one-half mile below the crash site, and an Alaska State Trooper hiked to the scene to investigate. The aircraft was substantially damaged by the impact and the post crash fire, but the trooper was able to determine the presence of human remains before increasing darkness prevented his further investigation," they said.
The 35-year-old McGregor told authorities that after the crash he walked to the Denali Park Road where he found two campers at the Igloo Creek Campground who drove him to his home, according to a park release. Once home, the pilot called his family to let them know he was OK, and the authorities, the release said.
The National Park Service was notified of his situation about 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
"McGregor was alert and in good spirits, talking to friends and family via cell phone while being treated and waiting for the air ambulance to arrive from Fairbanks," a park release said. "It is estimated that he walked approximately 20 miles during his ordeal. He will be interviewed later by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) personnel as part of the accident investigation. McGregor has confirmed that remains found at the crash site are those of Gordon Haber. Rangers are stationed at the remote crash site overnight, in order to secure the scene prior to arrival of NTSB investigators on Friday."
Dr. Haber, 67, who has studied Denali's wolves since 1966, long had been critical of Alaska's wolf management plans, particularly their hunting and trapping regulations, according to John Quinley, the Park Service's assistant regional director for communications in Alaska.
“He has been an advocate for stronger protection of wolves, particularly on the northern and eastern boundaries of Denali, which in various configurations have been open to trapping in recent years, outside the park’s boundary," the Park Service spokesman said Thursday afternoon. "His concern was, in part, that those wolves on the eastern end, some of the packs, have been studied going way way back, back to when (Adolph) Murie was working in Denali, and he saw a danger if those long-studied packs were eliminated by trapping or hunting that that’s a significant loss for the park and park visitors.
"He also saw that some of those eastern wolves, they’re protected in the park and they wander around particularly close to people at various times of years and they wander outside the park, in the spring, and if they wander close to people they wind up dead, in traps particularly," said Mr. Quinley.
Comments
I am appalled at Priscilla Feral's comments. There are two sides to Predator Control. Those of us that understand that have no desire to have anyone on the FOA side die like this. Priscilla your hateful about those who disagree with your views are to be expected. Why not just grieve a lost peer and stop attempting to express the views of hunters and trappers; which you could not possibly know or understand?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORD I AM GORDONS GOD DAUGHTER AND HIS NIECE, WE ARE TORN APART BUT WE ARE ALL TOGEATHER, HIS SISTER MY MOM AND MY GRANDMA HIS MOM IS HAVEING A HARD TIME. WE ARE A CLOSE FAMILY WE LOST SOMEONE SO SPECIAL TO US, THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS.
CHERYL A. RICHARDSON STUART, FLORIDA
Cheryl,
Please email me. I am a close friend of Gordon and have been trying to reach you.
Again, it sounds as though someone who doesn't know what the conditions are like on the north side of Denali is taking something that THEY hear and applying it to anything that THEY suppose is like in nature. Tight 360° turns over a wolf pack with a biologist trying to see from a 185 on the lee-side of a mountain range is much more likely the cause than any mechanical malfunction. Period!
Tight 360 degree turns at slow airspeeds and low altitudes are inherently hazardous maneuvers. The stall speed of the aircraft increases with the steep angle of the turn. The passage of the plane sets up a trail of disturbed air, so the the turning aircraft may suddenly encounter its own wake turbulence. The wing on the inside of the turn is traveling slower than the outside wing, so when when a stall takes place there is a tendency for the plane to flip. With enough altitude the pilot can normally recover from the stall. When flying close to the ground, however, there may not be room for a safe recovery. In aerial wildlife tracking there should be a clear understanding that the pilot is not expected to search for wildlife. His/her role is to safely fly the aircraft and follow the directions of the observer(s) only when the directions can be carried within the envelop of safety. There are other possible causes for the accident, including fuel contamination, engine problems, local turbulence, etc. Mt. McKinley and its close sister mountains often generate their own weather conditions that can extend outward for many miles. The 185 is an excellent airplane. Personally, however, I would pick a PA 18 Super Cub for visual tracking and low level observation of wildlife.
Bane, why the aircraft pick...the 185 over the PA 18 Super Cub. Does the Super Cub have a rear passenger seat...in back of the pilots seat? Do you fly personally?
I don't know why Bane isn't answering, but know that he does fly, has flown 185s and Super Cubs. Super Cubs are two seaters, a front and a back seat. The 185 is a four seater, two up and two behind. The 185 is a faster plane, and the Super Cub can fly much slower. As Ray says, both are excellent planes, highly favored in Alaska.
Anonymous,
The Super Cub is well suited for low level and slow speed observation for a number of reasons. It has a high lift wing with a lower stall speed allowing it to fly at slower speeds. It has a tandem seating arrangement with the passenger directly behind the pilot. There is lots of window space on both sides of the fuselage allowing easy viewing when banking in either direction. Generally, the plane is a bit easier to recover from a stall. Of course, the 185 will carry more passengers and has a longer range. As d-2 says, I have flown both the 185 and PA-18 (SCub) in wildlife tracking and other low level operations. Both are excellent aircraft.