Coast Guard suspends search of missing plane with 3 aboard in Southeast Alaska

Update, 5:45 a.m. Tuesday: The U.S. Coast Guard said late Monday that it has suspended the search for a small plane with a Haines man and two Yakutat residents missing since Saturday on a flight from Juneau to Yakutat.

In a post to social media, the Coast Guard quoted Lt. Matt Naylor, the search mission coordinator for the case, saying, “The decision to suspend is never easy. Our sympathy is with the families of those on board.”

Earlier story: Search efforts continued in Southeast Alaska on Monday for a Haines man and two Yakutat residents missing after the plane they were on was reported overdue Saturday, a U.S. Coast Guard official said.

Samuel Wright, of Haines, flew to Juneau on Saturday in his 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza and departed around 1:45 p.m. with Hans Munich and Tanya Hutchins, said Lt. Cmdr. Mike Salerno, spokesman for the 17th Coast Guard District.

The plane was headed to Yakutat, where Munich and Hutchins live, Salerno said. A friend of one of the three reported the plane overdue around 5:40 p.m., Salerno said. The friend told authorities they had been tracking the plane online and noticed the radar stopped near Mount Crillon in the Fairweather Range, Salerno said.

The flight was not operating as a charter, Salerno said. He did not have details about how the people may have known each other.

Hutchins and Munich are owners of Coastal Air Service in Yakutat. Munich is an experienced pilot who has flown for more than 36 years, according to the company’s website.

Coast Guard helicopter, plane and boat crews began searching Saturday. Weather conditions around the time the plane was last tracked were reported to be generally poor, with fog, rain and gusty winds in the area, Salerno said.

Search efforts continued Sunday with help from a good Samaritan aircraft and a U.S. Air Force plane. The search was suspended overnight and resumed Monday, focused in the mountain range, Salerno said.

“The altitude of some of the cloud heights has been a factor in some of the search efforts, and what I understand is that there is a weather window today, so they want to keep flying and try to see through some of the cloud breaks,” he said.