The pilot of a stricken C172 went down shortly after takeoff
this weekend, impacting in a lake after a takeoff from a strip in
the Alaskan boonies failed. When he failed to get airborne,
Strahan's Cessna skidded off the strip and into Eklutna Lake, about
40 miles northeast of Anchorage. Strahan was on a sightseeing
flight among the Chugach Mountains last Friday, enjoying the first
decent weather in several days. After going down, pilot Wade
Strahan, 56, found his way to an unheated trapper's cabin and was
forced to endure over 24 hours of below-freezing Alaska winter that
included an eight mile hike before his rescue.
Maj. Mike Haller of the Alaska National Guard explained that a
skier found Strahan, who alerted rescue crews via text
messaging/cellphone. Despite temps that flirted