Anchorage Daily News

CROOKED CREEK -- An airplane crash-landed on the tundra after its engine cut out Tuesday afternoon, leaving one woman with back injuries, according to Alaska State Troopers.

The Cessna 207 went down about 4:20 p.m. several miles up the Kuskokwim River from Crooked Creek, troopers from Aniak reported.

Three people were aboard. The pilot, David Lemaster, 56, and one passenger, Curtis Robinette, 27, were not injured. A woman passenger, Amanda Senbei, 25, was taken to the Aniak clinic to have a pain in her back examined, troopers said.

Lemaster told troopers he was flying in from Sleetmute and was over the Crooked Creek airstrip waiting for the weather to clear when the engine cut out on him. He was unable to get it restarted, so he guided the plane in on the tundra about a mile upriver of the airstrip, troopers said. The aircraft was totaled, troopers said.

A helicopter from the nearby Donlin Mine picked up the people and took them to Crooked Creek, troopers said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft is registered to Bush-Tell Inc., a telephone company in Aniak.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

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