An Anchorage pilot and his two passengers survived a Saturday plane crash near the Nancy Lake State Recreational Area with minor injuries, according to investigators.
Pilot Rusty Kline, 44, of Anchorage and his passengers Arthur Cordova, 68, and Ruth Cordova, 69, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, were flying in a four-passenger 1949 Stinson airplane when the taildragger plane lost power and crashed near Butterfly Lake, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Butterfly Lake is south of the boundaries of the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, northwest of Houston.
The plane had taken off from Merrill Field for a sightseeing trip and had been in the air for about 35 minutes when it ran into engine problems, said National Transportation Safety Board senior investigator Bryce Banning Sunday.
Troopers were notified of the crash at 6:15 p.m., according to an online dispatch posted Sunday.
"Another aircraft in the area was able to land at a nearby lake and transported all occupants to Anchorage where they received treatment for their injuries at Providence (Alaska) Medical Center," troopers wrote in an online dispatch Sunday.
Two of the people in the plane sustained minor injuries and a third was unharmed.
What exactly caused the plane to lose power is still under investigation, Banning said.