Mystery pilot’s call brings wet sunken beach rescue
Published: February 8, 2007
Charles Keeter stood knee-deep atop his sunken snowmachine in chilly Kroto Slough for nearly three hours until a passing pilot caught sight of a flare.
The pilot landed on skis in a swampy area nearby and snowshoed an hour to reach Keeter, who fired that flare, according to a news release by the Alaska State Troopers.
The unidentified pilot left no record, apparently, of his identity. Two state troopers and representatives at the two dispatch centers in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough said they either never asked his name or have no record of his identifying himself.
The pilot made contact with Keeter, then returned to his aircraft, took off and landed somewhere from which he phoned troopers, according to a dispatcher at the MatComm center in Wasilla.
The MatComm dispatcher said the pilot first phoned 911, a call handled by the Palmer dispatch center, which passed the rescue call to MatComm. However, a dispatch supervisor at Palmer could not find a record of the pilot’s 911 call Thursday.
In response to the rescue call, trooper Sgt. Mark Agnew hopped into a Piper Cub at Wasilla airport, flew to the site and landed on the same frozen marsh, covered in 4 feet of snow, where the first pilot had landed, Agnew said Thursday.
He too snowshoed to the creek where Keeter, jogging in place atop his snowmachine, waited for help.
“At least I think he was glad to see me,” Agnew said.
Agnew described the site as two or three miles from the mouth of Kroto Slough, a swampy area along the Susitna River.
Keeter, 41, of Palmer told trooper he was headed for a friend’s cabin when the ice atop the creek gave way and the snowmachine sank, Agnew said. Only its windscreen was visible above the water, he said.
Keeter, in insulated bib overalls, boots and a black Carhartt jacket, was prepared for the weather. “It was fairly warm,” the sergeant said. “It was probably 15 or 20 degrees above.”
Using an ax he brought with him, Agnew cut down three small trees and laid them from the solid ice across the 15 or 20 feet of open water to Keeter’s snowmachine. Keeter fastened the butt ends to the handlebars with a strap; he doffed some of his clothing and tossed them to Agnew in order to have dry clothes once he made his way off the snowmachine, Agnew said.
He said Keeter expressed doubt he could walk far and crawled across the small tree trunks, reaching for Agnew’s outstretched snowshoe. The ice cracked and opened beneath both men before Keeter reached solid ground, and both ended up wet, Agnew said.
Because of deep snow, Keeter could not walk to Agnew’s aircraft without snowshoes. Fortunately, an Air National Guard rescue helicopter arrived within minutes of Keeter reaching solid footing. Two pararescuemen rappelled down, Agnew said.
Air Guard Staff Sgt. Eric Hamilton said the rescuers retrieved Keeter and flew him back to Deshka Landing, his departure point.
Keeter, none the worse for wear, declined further medical treatment, said trooper Andrew Adams of Talkeetna. Keeter could not be reached for comment.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: