On August 21, 2010, 20-year-old Seth Spradlin, a male National Park Service employee, vanished in the vast wilderness of Katmai National Park, Alaska. He was not alone; with him were his older brother, Neal Spradlin, 28, and a fellow park employee, Mason McLeod, 26. The three men were passengers on a de Havilland Beaver floatplane, piloted by the experienced Marco Alletto, flying from Swikshak Bay to Brooks Camp.
They had been in Swikshak working on the replacement of a ranger station and were heading to King Salmon. The floatplane, operated by Branch River Air Service, took off around 1:45 p.m. but never reached its destination.
A second aircraft that departed from the same location just 15 minutes later landed safely in King Salmon, its pilot reporting deteriorating weather conditions that forced a low-altitude flight. This initiated an extensive search for the missing plane and its four occupants. The search operation was a massive, multi-agency effort involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska Air National Guard, the National Park Service, and the Alaska State Troopers, among others. For weeks, numerous aircraft scoured the rugged, 4-million-acre national park, flying thousands of air miles over mountainous terrain and coastal areas, hoping to find any sign of the downed plane. Despite the best efforts of searchers and clear weather on some days, no trace of the aircraft was immediately found, and no signals from the plane's emergency locator transmitter were ever detected.
More than a month after the plane disappeared, on September 28, 2010, debris from the aircraft was discovered washed ashore on the park's northern coast. Later, more fragmented portions of the plane, along with a tent and a duffel bag believed to have been on board, were found. Some of the recovered items showed evidence of exposure to high temperatures, suggesting a possible fire, though it could not be determined if it occurred in-flight or after the crash on the water's surface. Despite these discoveries and even sonar searches of the ocean near where the wreckage was found, the main body of the aircraft and the four men, including Seth Spradlin, have never been located. The National Transportation Safety Board was unable to determine the probable cause of the accident due to the limited evidence. The disappearance of Seth Spradlin and his companions remains a sorrowful mystery, a stark reminder of the unforgiving nature of the Alaskan wilderness.Last Seen: Aug 21, 2010
