On August 27, 2023, 58-year-old Melissa McMartin and her husband, 59-year-old Clayton McMartin, from Roanoke, Texas, were flying a private plane in Alaska. The couple, who had a deep love for 'the Last Frontier,' were en route from Glennallen to Ketchikan in their Beechcraft Bonanza B-36 aircraft. They were on their way to Washington to visit their grandson before the start of moose hunting season.
The last communication with their aircraft occurred approximately 18 miles inland from Cape Yakataga. When their plane did not arrive at its destination, it was reported overdue, prompting a search and rescue operation.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was alerted, and the Alaska Air National Guard, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, began to search the area of the plane's last known contact. However, poor weather conditions significantly hampered their initial efforts. Later in the evening on August 28, a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft managed to locate wreckage in a challenging and remote area north of Mount Leeper's summit, within the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The crash site was described as being in a heavily glaciated region with hanging glaciers and deep crevasses, situated at an elevation of about 5,100 feet. The treacherous terrain and persistent bad weather made it impossible for crews to access the site for several days.
Due to the significant time that had passed and the ongoing dangerous conditions, the mission transitioned from a rescue to a recovery effort. A brief break in the weather on September 5 allowed a National Park Service ranger to conduct an aerial analysis of the crash site. The reconnaissance revealed that the aircraft had come to rest in a highly crevassed area of the Yahtse Glacier, a location that is continually accumulating snow. After evaluating the photos from this flight, the National Park Service, in coordination with the Alaska State Troopers and the National Transportation Safety Board made the difficult decision to call off the recovery efforts. Officials concluded that the extreme terrain and hazardous weather conditions would create an unacceptably dangerous situation for any on-the-ground recovery teams, and that the wreckage was permanently inaccessible.Last Seen: Aug 27, 2023
