OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Workers began the daunting task Saturday of removing the wreckage of a small plane that crashed Tuesday night near the Heart O’ the Hills Campground.
A Sequim man was killed in the crash, but two Port Angeles women walked away with only minor injuries.
Two reporters were escorted to the crash site to see a Cessna 182P that is little more than a twisted wreckage with pieces spread out over more than 100 yards of second-growth forest five miles south of Port Angeles, about 1.5 miles within the national park.
The crash occurred practically on top of the Lake Angeles Trail. That trail, and the nearby Heather Park Trail, are expected to remain closed until at least Monday, park officials said.
Two walk away from crash
Passengers Tammi Hinkle, 32, and Sara Gagnon, 34, both of Port Angeles, were escorted away from the crash site by Clallam County Search & Rescue teams Wednesday afternoon after spending the night at the crash site.
Both were treated and released from Olympic Medical Center later Wednesday.
Pilot Barry Koehler, 57, of Sequim was killed.
Koehler was piloting the single-engine, blue and white Cessna, rented from Port Angeles-based Rite Bros. Aviation Inc.
Most miraculous
Larry Nickey, fire and aviation search and rescue coordinator for Olympic National Park, said that of the 30 aviation accidents he had worked with, this is the most miraculous.
“This was the worst one I’ve ever seen where people survived with so few injuries,” he said.
“I was amazed that two people survived and walked away from it.”