Several topics of the past week were on my mind when I came across this list. I was looking for information on a close friend I lost on 7/13/2008. Nikiski/Cook Inlet. Went to school together and lived our lives as neighbors. His son comes by now and then and we talk. Maybe someone you know is here too with their story.

http://www.alaska.net/~jlanders/Fatal/T ... ntents.htm

That's some database. Three people on it were my next-door neighbors on either side of me. Plane crash and double bear mauling. RIP.

I can think of many names missing from that list as well, some friends.

I remember seeing a park service flag at half-mast one day, and learning that the flight I had just opted out of had gone down with no survivors.

Some days you feel the breath on the back of your neck a little more keenly.

Boy I didnt know there was such a list, I lost track of how many of those folks I knew, some good friends. Between pushing weather and such stuff happens. Just reading the list saddens me greatly....... one thing that stands out for me in this is all the drowning as I know almost ALL these could have been prevented so easy. Truly sad. As I said some of these were good friends
and saw first hand the heartache they left behind. Yes some were just plain accidents, yet others were just plain lack of good
judgment if not craziness....... Am truly a little dumbfounded over this list, seeing all these names. Lord have mercy folks, Please be Careful out there and Think!

Sad to see so many names where I have been involved.

And lots of names missing too (not that I am complaining it is a heck of a project.)

This is the climber's memorial in Talkeetna. Each plaque represents a year's fatalities on Denali and Foraker. This is how it looked 14 years ago.

I don't know anyone on the list personally, unfortunately I know what will probably change...

I see that the list has two accidents aboard container ships where crewmembers have fallen overboard. I just got off my container ship in Dutch this morning. (waiting for a flight home from anchorage now) We carry Reefers (refrigerated containers) on deck and one the Chief Mate's job is to check them to ensure that they are plugged in and still cold. I never allow my crew on deck when the weather is bad. last night we had 50 kt winds and 4 meter swells before coming through Unimak pass. One good roll and you go over the side. I hadn't heard of these accidents; I guess because they are non US flag vessels. I cringe when I see the deadliest catch crews on deck in the waether that they endure.

The list is interesting for many reasons, one of which is how incomplete it is. I know of at least five fatal aircraft accidents over the years that don't appear on that list.

A sobering statistic in any case,

MTV

MTV is correct....there are so many not on this list, why? who knows

At the bottom of the list it states:

"Last Revised: 21 November 2010
Please report any errors to [email protected]"

I will email and ask about omissions and the history of the list itself.

Well, BCP Posters it takes no turn around time to get a reply from Joe Anders. This is an invitation to add the omissions that you know of. He seriously wants to build this list and keep it up. To contribute to it, you would be doing something in someone's memory for the benefit of the living, and that makes them more than a statistic. His email is below and also at the bottom of his list.


Hi Lynn.
I did some pretty dumb things when I got to AK, pretty lucky to still be around. This site is my penance for not being aware of the many ways to get in trouble and leave a widow and 2 kids without a father. Hopefully somebody will see the site and think a bit harder about swimming without a life vest, hiking without telling someone, gun safety, etc. etc.

Yes, I'd appreciate any additions you may have to the list.

Thanks for the note. Nice to know there are some readers out there!

Joe

> From: lsanderson
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Alaskan Fatalities List
> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:13:44 -0600
>
> I saw your list when looking for information on a friend of mine who
> died in Alaska. He is on there. The list is interesting in itself to
> look through and find the stories connected to it. Thank you for
> putting it out there.
>
> Can I ask about the history of the list and why it is kept. It was
> pointed out to me by fellow pilots that it has many omissions. Do you
> wish to have these names added? If so I will ask for their
> contributions to it.
>
> Lynn S.

I just submitted these. Posting here to spare anyone else the trouble:


Carl Ben Eielson- plane crash, flying to recover furs from ice-bound ship, 1929


'30's

Allen Carpe- crevasse fall, Muldrow Glacier, 1932
Theodore Koven- Crevasse fall, Muldrow Glacier, 1932

'50's

Elton Thayer- climbing fall, Karsten's Ridge, 1954

'70's

David Allen- Crevasse fall, Mt Eielson area, McKinley National Park, 1973


2000's

Cale Shaffer,
Brian Reagan,
Adam Kolff,
Don Bowers - inflight break-up of C-185, en route to Denali Base Camp, 2000

Oh, and McCandless probably makes the grade

I was wondering why Carl Ben Eielson wasn't listed. He is a folk hero around here, he grew up about a dozen miles from where I live.

Interesting list!!

lancef53 wrote:I was wondering why Carl Ben Eielson wasn't listed. He is a folk hero around here, he grew up about a dozen miles from where I live.

Interesting list!!

There's a book you might enjoy: Wings Over Alaska: the Carl Ben Eielson Story. Around here there is a Mount Eielson, an NPS Eielson Visitor Center, and a stretch of road called the Eielson Bluffs. As well as Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, AK. The first three are all in the immediate vicinity of where he pioneered off-airport gravel river bar landings in 1924, on the Thorofare River bar, below Copper Mountain, aka Mount Eielson, inside Mount McKinley National Park.