Witness Maintains He Saw Plane Go Down

Hopefully, it's nothing more than a case of mistaken identity... but Alaska State Troopers are searching for a dark blue-and-white Cessna 180 that one witness says spiraled into the ground near the Bradley Sky Ranch airport Monday night.

Richard Hayden, 33 and himself a pilot, maintains he saw the aircraft (file photo of type, right) falling out of control near the North Pole airport.

The Anchorage Daily News reports an extensive search was launched using Army and Air Force rescue choppers. Crews searched until midnight Monday, but found no sign of the plane. The search resumed Tuesday with the same results, aided by civil aircraft.

So far, there is no sign of a wrecked aircraft in the area --  nor have any planes been reported overdue. Rescue crews haven't received an ELT signal, either.

North Pole Fire Department chief Buddy Lane speculates Hayden may have seen an aircraft banking toward the treeline, on its way to one of many private airstrips in the area, and mistakenly thought it was falling.

"That’s what we can hope for, anyway," he said.

FMI: www.northpolefire.org