Injured pilot walks to safety from Denali plane crash

 The wreck of the burned Cessna was found on a steep mountain slope at the East Fork of Toklat River. The crash happened on Wednesday and killed Gordon Haber. The injured pilot walked from the crash site to Igloo campground where he found help.

Photo courtesy of National Park Service

Pilot Dan McGregor, 35, of Denali Park has survived a plane crash that killed wolf biologist Gordon Haber inside Denali Park on Wednesday.

McGregor managed to walk about 20 miles to safety, confirmed National Park spokeswoman Kris Fister on Friday morning. McGregor suffered significant burns and has been transported to a Seattle burn center.

McGregor confirmed that the human remains inside the burned airplane are of renowned wolf researcher Gordon Haber, 67.

McGregor and Haber left Denali airstrip on Wednesday on a routine flight to study wolves.

When the plane did not return by nightfall on Wednesday, a search was initiated. Seven aircraft including the Fairbanks Civil Air Patrol Squadron, an Alaska Wildlife Trooper Cessna 185, an HC-130 from the 211th Rescue Squadron in Anchorage and the National Park Service aircraft searched the northern side of the park.

On Thursday afternoon, searchers spotted the missing Cessna on a steep slope west of the East Fork of the Toklat River, approximately seven miles north of the Park Road.
A search plane was able to land later on the river bar and an Alaska State Trooper hiked to the wreckage.  The plane was severely damaged and burned to the point that the first responder could not discern how many human remains were in the wreck.

Kris Fister with the National Park Service said a bright spot was when word came that the pilot, Dan McGregor, was able to walk away from the crash site and is alive.

In spite of his injuries, he walked from the crash site seven miles north of the Park Road to the Igloo campground, adding another 13 miles to his struggle for safety. From there, two campers took him to his home outside the park boundaries.  He called his family to let them know he was alive and then called state troopers. 

McGregor was alert and in good spirits while being treated late Thursday by medics of the Park Service and Tri Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Fister said. An air ambulance came from Fairbanks and took him from Healy to a Seattle burn center. McGregor has confirmed that the remains in the plane are that of researcher Gordon Haber.

Fister said that the Park Service is still trying to locate and contact Haber’s family.

Park rangers were stationed at the remote crash site overnight to secure the scene. Investigators of the National Transportation and Safety Board are the primary investigators along with the Park Service. NTSB officials arrived on Friday at the crash site. Fister said investigators strive to complete the onsite documentation at the crash site  before weather starts to hamper the efforts.

The news has hit the conservation community in Alaska and around the nation hard. Haber has been researching Denali’s wolves since 1966.  He was often in the news as an advocate for the wolves of Denali and their habitat preservation.