Alaska State Troopers revealed details on a Thursday afternoon crash east of the Soldotna Airport and reported that the passengers and pilot all survived without injury.

At 2:13 pm AST was contacted by the Anchorage Air Traffic Control that a Soldotna-bound Cessna 180 with three passengers aboard “had suffered engine failure and was unable to land at Soldotna Airport.” Air Traffic Control told troopers that the last known location was five miles to the east of the airstrip.

Telephone contact with the pilot was established a short time later and the pilot informed troopers that the plane did indeed crash and the crash site was approximately one mile southeast of 8-mile Funny River Road in a swamp. The pilot reported that all persons aboard (three passengers and the pilot) were accounted for and no injuries were reported.

In turn, AST contacted the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center and also Helo-3 was placed on standby. AST patrol units as well as U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel responded to the crash location and found all crash victims standing on the belly of the aircraft, which was upside-down in 3-4 feet of water in the middle of the swamp.

After setting up a safe landing zone for Helo-3, the rescuers made their way through the water to the downed aircraft and assisted them to shore.

When Helo-3 made it to the location at 3:40 pm, they made two trips to take out the four victims and transported them to the Soldotna Airport from the crash site. The crash victims were met by family members.

By 4:57 pm the search and rescue operation was complete and Helo-3 had returned to base.

AST released the name of the pilot of the aircraft as Terry Moxey, and Jacqueline Moxey. both of Sterling, and David and Karen Savoie of Idaho.

The FAA and NTSB were notified of the crash.

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