Unreported Cessna Crash Located near Dinglestadt Glacier

Alaska Native News on Jul 22, 2015.

Troopers revealed on Tuesday that they had been notified of the discovery of a plane down 25 miles northeast of Homer on Monday morning.

A pilot had been flying over the area and discovered the crashed aircraft on Sunday and reported his finding to the Rescue Coordination Center. At just after 10 Monday morning, RCC relayed that information to troopers.

RCC contacted the Civil Air Patrol and reported the discovery on Sunday. CAP flew to the area and located the downed aircraft, but were unable to see the tail numbers of the unidentified aircraft that lay inverted in the terrain near Dinglestadt Glacier.

Armed with the coordinates of the aircraft, but lacking little other information, or even a report of a crash, troopers initiated a search and rescue operation and Helo-2 was called in from Anchorage to search for the plane’s occupants.

Helo-2 was able to land near the crash site and were able to ascertain the tail numbers of the downed Cessna 140. Using that information, troopers were able to identify the owner as 24-year-old Joshua Mastre of Soldotna.

Troopers were able to contact Mastre by phone. Mastre reported to troopers that he was flying in the area on July 14 at which time “he was caught in a strong down-draft which caused the plane to crash into the mountain.”

Mastre reported to troopers that he was uninjured in the crash and had hiked out from the crash site.

Troopers report that Mastre “did not report the crash to AST, FAA, or NTSB.”

AST notified the FAA.