Pilot critically injured in crash in trees
A Soldotna pilot was airlifted to Anchorage in critical condition Tuesday after a crash near a residential neighborhood near West Poppy Lane.
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Shortly after 9 a.m., residents on Whisperwood off West Poppy Lane heard a crashing of trees. Then they heard the crash. Irvin Faass, 46, flying a Cessna 150, collided into the dense forest a short distance from a cluster of houses on Autumn Court off Whisperwood.
Cory Waddell, who lives only a house away from the crash, said it sounded like the motor stopped. Bill Huel, Waddell's neighbor, said it then sounded like the motor started again. Then trees were heard breaking.
Faass was apparently trying to land at a private airstrip not far from the houses when he experienced engine trouble.
Central Emergency Services and the Alaska State Troopers from Soldotna were quickly on the scene. The aircraft was badly damaged and had apparently hit the tops of several trees before it fell to the ground. The rear of the airplane was broken off behind the cockpit and the wings were folded and broken.
As Faass was carried out of the trees on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, he said his legs hurt. The seven stretcher-bearers of troopers and CES personnel told him to keep talking, they were going to take care of him.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
Troopers and rescue workers from Central Emergency Services carry pilot Irvin Faass to a waiting ambulance.
Photo by M. SCOTT MOON
Faass had called out a name, which gave rise to the possibility of a passenger who may have been thrown from the plane. Troopers searched the area, but found no one.
Faass was taken first to Central Peninsula General Hospital before going to Anchorage.
As of late Tuesday afternoon he remained in critical condition.