Pilot suffers ‘minor injuries and hypothermia’ after rescue from downed plane near Juneau

No other people were in the Ward Air plane that went down near Shelter Island on Thursday, according to U.S. Coast Guard

A Ward Air Cessna floatplane. (Public domain photo by Gillfoto / CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This article has been updated with information about the pilot’s condition.

A Ward Air plane went down in Lynn Canal near Shelter Island on Thursday morning, with the pilot as the sole occupant hospitalized with minor injuries, according to officials.

"The Coast Guard was notified at 10:17 a.m. today of a downed Cessna plane with one person on board approximately 1.5 miles offshore Boy Scout Beach," Shannon Shepard, a U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District spokesperson, wrote in an email to the Juneau Independent. She said the plane belonged to Ward Air, a Juneau-based charter company that flies throughout Southeast Alaska.

"The Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and launched a response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Juneau and a helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Sitka. The pilot was recovered from the water by a Ward Air seaplane and taken to a hospital for medical care."

The pilot was treated for "minor injuries and hypothermia," according to an Alaska State Troopers incident report.

Ward Air declined to comment on the crash Thursday.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.