Air Force Colonel among Two Victims in Alaska Plane Crash
An Air Force colonel, who served as the director of
operations for the Alaskan Command, was identified as one of two men killed
when a small plane crashed into a remote lake in Alaska, the Alaska Department
of Public Safety announced Thursday.
The victims were identified as Col. Mark "Tyson"
Sletten, 46, of Anchorage, and Paul Kondrat, 41, of Utah, according to Alaska
Wildlife Troopers and the Alaskan Command. The two men were on an instructional
flight when their plane crashed into Crescent Lake near Moose Pass on the Kenai
Peninsula.
Two hikers reported witnessing the crash to troopers on
Tuesday afternoon. Responding to the incident, a public safety department
helicopter and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife float plane found debris on the lake
but saw no signs of survivors either in the water or on the shore.
Search efforts, coordinated by the Alaska Rescue
Coordination Center, included volunteers from the Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue,
and Recovery Team. The team employed sonar, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs),
and trained divers to explore areas of interest in the lake, which is over 200
feet deep in some sections, according to troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel.
On Wednesday, searchers located the plane in about 193 feet
of water using an ROV. Divers and the ROV successfully floated the plane and
towed it to shore. The bodies of the victims were subsequently transported to
the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will
investigate the cause of the crash. The Alaskan Command, based at Joint Base
Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, is responsible for homeland defense
missions, civil support, and security as part of the U.S. Northern Command.
