U.S. Coast Guard and civilian searchers failed again Wednesday to find any sign of a chartered single-engine plane with five people aboard that has been missing in Southeast Alaska since Monday.

The Coast Guard identified the passengers as Jim Murphy of Sequim, Wash.; his twin, Joe Murphy, of Bremerton, Wash.; and Jerry Balmer and Dick Conig, whose hometowns were unavailable Wednesday.

The group had departed Sitka in wind and rain at midday Monday, about an hour after another Harris airplane carrying other members of their party departed for Baranof Warm Springs Lodge. The first plane arrived safely after the one-hour flight, the Coast Guard said, but the other did not.

No sign of the missing aircraft was found by late Wednesday afternoon, the agency said.

A dispatcher for Harris Aircraft Services said the Beaver was carrying an emergency locator transmitter but that the device's signal apparently had not been detected. Coast Guard officials were backtracking to see whether a satellite had received the transmission even if those monitoring the system didn't hear it, dispatcher Dan Delong said.

The lodge at Warm Springs Bay is about 20 miles east of Sitka on the other side of Baranof Island, whose mountains rise to more than 5,000 feet. But, as is common, weather Monday led the air travelers to take a longer, circuitous route over the straits from Sitka around the northern half of the island to the bay, said Paul Webb, a search-and-rescue controller for the Coast Guard.

"On Monday, the visibility was poor, it was overcast and rainy, so this is the route you take when you can't go over the mountains," Webb said.

Two Coast Guard helicopters, several Civil Air Patrol pilots and others have searched more than 1,200 miles of shoreline, according to the Coast Guard.

The search was expected to continue into the evening. The Coast Guard was hoping for a break in the weather today so it could place ground parties in the search, the agency said.

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Plane lost near Sitka eludes searchers
5 ON BOARD: Beaver floatplane hasn't been seen since Monday.


By PETER PORCO
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: September 24, 2004)

The four passengers on a small plane missing near Baranof Island since Monday have known each other since they were iron workers together in northern California and were greatly looking forward to their Alaska fishing vacation, the wife of one of them said Thursday.

Jerry Balmer, 61, was on his third trip to Baranof Wilderness Lodge at Warm Springs Bay on the island's east side, Jackie Balmer said Thursday from their home in Auburn, Calif.

"My husband's not really a fisherman," Balmer said. "He just loved to go up there. The salmon's great, and watching the bears and whales."

No sign of the four men, their pilot or the Beaver floatplane operated by Harris Aircraft Services of Sitka had been found by late Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Besides Balmer, the Beaver's passengers have been identified as Jim Murphy of Sequim, Wash.; his twin, Joe Murphy, of Bremerton, Wash.; and Lloyd "Dick" Koenig of Pleasanton, Calif.

Their ages were unavailable.

The pilot has been identified as 25-year-old Eric Johnson of Sitka, who has flown for Harris Air since April or May, dispatcher Dan DeLong said Wednesday.

Johnson and his four passengers took off from Sitka at about 10:30 a.m. Monday, according to Coast Guard Officer Doug Green in Juneau.

Jackie Balmer said that the four men were part of a larger party that included some wives and that her husband flew in the second of three planes to take off from Sitka with members of the party.

The day was rainy and blustery, but visibility was at least four miles, according to DeLong. When skies are clear, planes usually can reach Sitka by climbing high enough to clear the Baranof Island mountains and land at the bay, 20 miles east.

But in overcast conditions, when they can't hop over the mountains, planes fly a circuitous route of roughly 100 miles above the waters around the northern half of the island.

The first and third planes arrived safely, but Johnson's Beaver never did. Coast Guard searchers in a pair of Jayhawks began looking on Monday afternoon. Civilian pilots and Harris Air pilots also searched the waters and adjacent terrain.

By Wednesday night, the Coast Guard said, its crews alone had been airborne for a total of about 40 hours and had covered about 2,400 miles of shoreline. Not a speck of debris or other material was found, it said.

The plane carried an ELT, or emergency locator transmitter, but its signal, if it is transmitting, has not been detected. Green, the Coast Guard officer, said an ELT can be damaged in a crash. If the plane has sunk, its signal may not escape the water, he said.

Thursday, the Coast Guard planned to concentrate its search around Emmons Island in Peril Strait, north of Baranof Island, and also in the vicinity of Hanus Bay near Catherine Island on Baranof's east side, Green said.

Someone had reported hearing an airplane in the Emmons Island area sometime between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Monday, he said. And a woman said she heard a "very loud noise that sounded unusual" near Hanus Bay in the early afternoon.

Both areas lie close to the plane's intended route, Green said.

Foul weather, including rain, 25-mph winds and 15-foot seas, kept searchers grounded until 2 p.m. Thursday, when a single Jayhawk was launched from Sitka.

A few hours later, however, the Jayhawk was diverted to answer another emergency, an unrelated Mayday call in the Sitka area, said Coast Guard Lt. Susan Parrish in Juneau. The caller reported a vessel in distress, Parrish said. By evening, no sign of the vessel had been found, she said.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard, which continues to assume the Beaver's occupants remain alive, will continue to search for them, she said. The Jayhawk crews will use night-vision and infrared equipment.

Some of the other members of the fishing party already have returned home to California, according to Jackie Balmer. She said she was unsure about the others.

Daily News reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com or 257-4582.

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Search for missing plane intensifies with clear skies
SOUTHEAST: Crews from Kodiak, Cordova coming to look for pilot, 4 passengers.


The Associated Press

(Published: September 25, 2004)

SITKA -- The Coast Guard has called in more manpower and aircraft to aid in the search for a plane and its five occupants missing since Monday.

There has been no sign of the missing plane and its occupants since Monday, when it took off from Sitka bound for a Southeast fishing lodge.

A crew from Kodiak and aircraft from Cordova were expected to join the search Friday, Coast Guard spokesman Roger Wetherell said. He said searchers hoped to cover a lot of territory in the favorable conditions, but strong winds were forecast for the weekend, which could hamper aircraft.

"At this point we're not dealing with fatalities, we're dealing with people who may be still alive and who are depending on us," Wetherell said. "What else can we do but to continue searching?"

Coast Guard officials identified the five as Joe Murphy of Bremerton, Wash., senior vice president of the Washington State Labor Council; his twin brother, Jim Murphy of Sequim, Wash.; Jerry Balmer of Auburn, Calif.; Lloyd Koenig of Pleasanton, Calif.; and pilot Eric Johnson of Sitka.

The four passengers have known each other since they were iron workers together in northern California and were greatly looking forward to their Alaska fishing vacation, the wife of one of the men said.

Balmer, 61, was on his third trip to Baranof Wilderness Lodge at Warm Springs Bay on the island's east side, Jackie Balmer told the Anchorage Daily News from their California home.

"My husband's not really a fisherman," Balmer said. "He just loved to go up there. The salmon's great, and watching the bears and whales."

Johnson, 25, has flown for Harris Air Services since April or May, dispatcher Dan DeLong said.

Monday was rainy and blustery but visibility was at least four miles, DeLong said. When skies are clear, planes usually can reach Sitka by climbing high enough to clear the Baranof Island mountains and land at the bay, 20 miles east.

But in overcast conditions, when they can't hop over the mountains, planes fly a circuitous route of roughly 100 miles above the waters around the northern half of the island.

The first and third planes in the party arrived safely, but Johnson's floatplane never did. Coast Guard searchers in a pair of Jayhawks began looking on Monday afternoon. Civilian pilots and Harris Air pilots also searched the waters and adjacent terrain.

By Thursday night, the Coast Guard said, searchers had covered more than 3,000 miles of shoreline.

The plane carried an emergency locator transmitter, but its signal, if it is transmitting, has not been detected.

The search on Friday continued to be centered in the Emmons Island area, about 35 miles north of Sitka. Someone had reported hearing an airplane in the Emmons Island area sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Coast Guard. And a woman said she heard a "very loud noise that sounded unusual" near Hanus Bay in the early afternoon.

Some of the other members of the fishing party already have returned home to California, according to Jackie Balmer. She said she was unsure about the others.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two Northern California women are convinced that if anyone could survive a plane crash in the Alaska wilderness, it would be their husbands.

Aboard the plane were pilot Eric Johnson, 26, of Sitka; and passengers Lloyd "Dick" Koenig, 69, of the Bay area city of Pleasanton, Calif.; Jerry Balmer, 61, of Auburn, Calif.; and Jim Murphy, 65, of Sequim, Wash., and his twin brother, Joe Murph, of Bremerton, Wash.

"I still have the feeling that they're alive. I don't know if it's denial or wishful thinking or what," Jackie Balmer said Saturday from the couple's home east of Sacramento in the Sierra foothills. "If anybody can walk out, these guys can."

After 10 days of looking for the men and the plane, the U.S. Coast Guard called off its search Wednesday. Nearly 200 hours had been spent and the Guard had used all its available crews and aircraft, including night-vision equipment.

"They felt that they had exhausted every possible effort to locate any survivors," Coast Guard Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie said.

But Harris Aircraft Services of Sitka, which owns the Beaver floatplane and has employed Johnson since spring, had no plans to give up the search.

"No one has found a thing," dispatcher Dan DeLong said. "That's very unusual. Normally you'd find something, a piece of wreckage, something."

He said at least four planes would continue searching Saturday from the air. Fishing boats and ships in the area have been told to watch for anything unusual on their sonar, and a dozen volunteers fanned out over the rough and heavily wooded terrain on foot, DeLong said.

The day the plane disappeared was rainy and blustery but visibility was at least four miles, he said.

"Hope dwindles, but it's there," DeLong said.

The plane took off from Sitka, on the west side of Baranof Island near Juneau.

Bad weather forced it to take the long route over water instead of heading directly to the lodge over land, DeLong said. The short route is about 20 air miles and takes about 12 minutes, while the long route is about 100 air miles and takes about 50 minutes, he said.

The pilot, who's been flying since he was 18 and professionally since he was 21, makes the trip three or four times a day, DeLong said. He said the plane made it at least a third of the way to the lodge the day it disappeared.

It was the second in a group of three planes to make the trip that day.

The men were at the start of a weeklong fishing trip they'd been planning for six months, Barbara Koenig said. Her husband loved the outdoors, boating and airplanes.

"When airplanes flew over the house, he'd run out to see what kind it was," she said, adding he'd been eager to visit Alaska for years.

His longtime friend, Jerry Balmer, had been to the lodge twice before. Balmer's wife went along the first time, three years ago.

"I love Alaska," Jackie Balmer said, explaining that she and her husband tried to save enough money to send their two grandsons, 8 and 9, along on the trip.

"I'm glad now we didn't," she said.

Jerry Balmer, Lloyd Koenig and Jim Murphy were longtime members of California chapters of the Ironworkers International Union. Murphy moved to Washington from Sacramento about two years ago.

Jackie Balmer said there would be no future trips for her husband -- if he returns home safe.