Andrews Family Info -

August 11, 2008, 12:34 am

First of all, we need to keep looking and searching, until my family is found.  There is a lot of uncertainty; especially with weather and other factors, but I believe my brother and father to be well and surviving.  What follows is what I hope I know:
On Friday the 8th, Brian (56, 230 lbs.), Brent (or B.J.) (28, 215 lbs.), and gear traveled to S. Young’s Lakecabin at about 5:30.  Included in the plane were 3 sleeping bags, pads, 4 bags of groceries, one tub/tote with basics, mess kit, etc., a camp stove, and a Coleman lantern.  Brian flew back to Juneauto pick up Brandon(24, 185 lbs.), two dogs Zeke (70 lbs.), and Chief (100 lbs.) and a small outboard motor.  The plane, a Cessna 182 on floats, colored white, maroon, and silver, with silver floats, was equipped with standard aviation radios, an older Garmin GPS, and full fuel.  There were life jackets worn, as well as hip boots, and technical jackets.

On Saturday, we all flew back to Juneauat about 3:15arriving in Juneauat 3:40.  The weather was open on the North end of the lake, but closed to the South for this first flight.  Myself and the two dogs unloaded, and Brian and Brandonimmediately turned around to fly back to the cabin for the rest of the gear.  I dropped off the dogs at home and drove back to the airport to pick up my brother and father.

They hadn’t returned by 6:00and by 7:00I filed a notice with the FAA.  I told them they were 2½ hours overdue.  The FAA checked the radio traffic and other potential signals.  No ELT beacon or other emergency transmissions were heard.  They said that a Ward Air flight sighted a plane fitting the description at about 4:00headed North, although this could have been the flight I was on.  Another Ward Air flight may have landed at the north lake cabin at 7:00 PM, however this has not been corroborated.  At 8:15I was contacted by the Coast Guard Command Center who began a search.  They dispatched a helicopter from Sitkawho flew over the lake at about 11:00 PM.  While it was dark, I learned that no airplanes were sighted on the lake.  The search was postponed at 12:10until morning.  At 5:30on Sunday, another Coast Guard flight commenced, and flew through OliverInletto SeymourCanaladding no new information.  The Cutter Liberty was also
dispatched.  At 6:45 AM, there was no new news and it was very foggy and poor conditions.  Flights were not making it into Young’s Lake.  At 9:00, the news broke on KINY.  At 10:00, it was still too early to discuss any scenarios except that they were hopefully just sitting somewhere waiting on weather.  At 11:00, I had met with the Civil Air Patrol to learn that they’d flown over Hawk Inlet, and adjacent areas on Douglas, and Admiralty, except for the Young’s area.  15 minutes later, at the Coast Guard Command center, I was able to see all areas covered.  Further, Libertyhad been patrolling Admiralty Cove, the backside of Douglas, and was going into SeymourCanalto explore all adjacent shoreline.  Flights were trying to make it into Young’s from King Salmon Cove with no luck.

At about 5:00 PM, I learned that the Alaska State Troopers had successfully made it to the lake with a float plane, and Juneau Mountain Rescue (JMR) had hiked in to the north cabin from Admiralty Cove.  The south cabin was empty of gear, except trash which probably meant that Brandon and Brian felt they only had a small weather window and left.  JMR did a wide sweep of the land area on the way in and saw no visual evidence of anything suspicious (although spotted a bear).  The Coast Guard was able to get a helicopter over land from the tip of MansfieldPeninsulato Hawk Inlet and fly low and slow at about 200’ from S. Young’s Lakethrough to King Salmon Cove and into Seymourwithout seeing anything.

At 8:00, the Civil Air Patrol returned to Juneau from a flight that primarily swept the backside of Douglas Island up to 1000’.  The Troopers were also able to do fairly good visual reconnaissance of the area from Admiralty Cove to Young’s LakeNorth, not seeing any downed airplanes.

Shortly after, a new Coast Guard helicopter came in with forward looking infrared, but no heat signatures were detected.  I don’t know how high they were able to scan, maybe 500 to 1000’.

With no emergency signals, and no visual or thermal evidence of a downed aircraft, there is little evidence to suggest adverse trouble beyond the time frame in which Brian and Brandon have been missing.  Radio communication in the area may require line-of-sight and would be dependent on battery power.  Brian has 25 years of flying experience in Southeast Alaskaand extensive knowledge of the region, and Brandonis a very good pilot who could have taken control of the aircraft at any time.