Alaska News

Koliganek volleyball team endures rough landing en route to state tournament

Most underdog volleyball teams from rural Alaska just have to face bigger rivals on the court. The girls volleyball team from the small southwestern Alaska village of Koliganek survived near-disaster Wednesday en route to the state tournament in Anchorage after its plane was forced to King Salmon for a rough landing on badly damaged landing gear.

"Me and the other coach, we grabbed hands and prayed," assistant coach Anastasia Ishnook said Thursday afternoon after the team finally got to Anchorage. "I turned back to my girls and I said, 'Don't be scared. God is with us' right when we were about to land."

The twin-engine Piper Navajo touched down -- and then the left landing gear folded, according to King Salmon airport manager Kyler Hylton, who stood watching with a fleet of fire trucks and ambulances as the aircraft approached.

The plane tilted left and skidded about 1,000 feet down the icy runway, sparks flying, before coming to a stop.

Inside sat Dena'ina Air Taxi pilot Brenten Goodrich, six members of the Koliganek Huskies volleyball squad plus two coaches and a parent.

Nobody was hurt.

"The pilot did, in my opinion, an excellent job," Hylton said by phone Thursday from King Salmon. "It could have went a lot worse."

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‘A big bang’

Everyone in the plane knew something was wrong as soon as the Navajo lifted off from the Koliganek runway, Ishnook said.

The state-owned airport that serves the village of about 200 people some 65 miles northeast of Dillingham is scheduled for a major upgrade including runway rehab and extension. But right now the runway is still full of bumps.

"Right when we took off, we hit a berm," said Ishnook, who was sitting near the front next to head coach Diana Merlino. "When we hit the air we heard a big bang on the bottom of the plane."

Goodrich didn't like that sound, Ishnook said. And five minutes later, the landing gear didn't raise like it's supposed to. The pilot radioed to the tiny airport at Igiugig, east of Koliganek, and told people there he was flying over so they could take a look at the landing gear. The plane circled low and the guy on the ground below could see the landing gear was damaged. Goodrich told his passengers he wanted to fly south to King Salmon to land. Better emergency services there.

Ishnook sent her family a text message, she said: "Prayers for our safe landing."

Waiting

The airport in Iguigig called King Salmon at around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and reported an inbound Navajo with "a known gear problem," Hylton said. He got his staff suited up and into a state fire truck. He said the Bristol Bay volunteer fire department rolled three trucks and two ambulances.

Hylton said the pilot radioed him at 1:02 p.m. He told Goodrich to make a low approach and saw the left main gear "hanging down at an odd angle," he said. "When he flew by I was pretty convinced that it would not hold the weight of the aircraft upon landing."

He told Goodrich to try to "feather" the propeller -- reduce its pitch -- to keep it from hitting the runway.

"It was pretty much his game" at that point, Hylton said.

In the plane, Ishnook said, the pilot stayed calm. He said he was going to gain some altitude and de-ice.

"When I come down, that's when we're going to land, so get yourself in a position and wait for the OK," she recalled Goodrich saying.

Everyone sat up with their hands on the seats in front of them, bracing for the impact. Diana Merlino, the head coach of the volleyball team, said the team was traveling with survival gear.

From the ground, Hylton said, he saw the plane make a low approach, come in and touch down. As soon as the aircraft slowed, the landing gear folded and the plane tilted left.

"It was really smooth when we landed. The wheel stuck for a couple seconds and then slowly it started going to the side," Ishnook said. "Then we started gliding back and forth."

Nobody screamed, and nobody prayed aloud though Ishnook said she kept praying to herself.

The plane finally stopped. Hylton helped passengers out. They were shaken. Some were crying. Ishnook called her family to assure them she was OK.

"Our girls are really strong. They kept it together," she said. "The pilot was really nice. He said he was sorry it happened today but he couldn't have had better passengers."

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Ready for volleyball

The volleyball team spent Wednesday night at a hotel in King Salmon, temporarily stranded by bad weather that canceled its flight to Anchorage. The team finally reached Anchorage early Thursday afternoon -- too late for its 2 p.m. first-round match at Dimond High against Unalaska.

Tournament officials, aware of Koliganek's delay, held other matches as planned and moved the Koliganek-Unalaska match to the end of the day.

The tournament is a mix of Class 2A and 1A teams and Koliganek is the smallest in the field, with 13 students enrolled in high school, according to the Alaska School Activities Association. The Huskies brought an eighth-grader with them to help fill out the roster.

"They're ready to play," Merlino said. "We're totally in volleyball mode now."

Zaz Hollander

Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. Contact her at zhollander@adn.com.

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