Pilot rescued with 2 girls from Alaska lake was not authorized to have passengers, official says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A pilot rescued with two young family members after surviving a night on the wing of an airplane on an Alaskan lake was a student pilot and was not authorized to fly with passengers, according to a U.S. official and federal aviation records. 

Pilot not cooperating with investigators

John Morris Jr. is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Morris has thus far not been cooperating with investigators about what happened on the flight, Mark Ward of the NTSB, told The Associated Press.

What they're saying:

"The FAA told me that he is a student pilot, he had no application in for a pilot’s license, and it appears he has a history of violating" the no passenger rule, Ward said. "At this point, we don’t know whether he landed purposely or for an emergency procedure, and he’s not talking to us."

The FAA conducted a conference call Tuesday with Ward and Morris’ wife. She said he would call them, but that call never came, Ward said.

Man was a student pilot

Federal aviation records show that Morris received a student pilot license in 2018.

Student pilots flying passengers is among the more common violations of FAA rules, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The federal agency can suspend or revoke a student pilot’s license, issue fines and seek the costs associated with the investigation.

Ward said it’s probable that if a student pilot was unlawfully flying passengers and suffered an accident, any insurance claim would be denied, leaving the pilot responsible for damage and recovering the aircraft from the lake.

Missing plane

The backstory:

The plane that Morris was piloting was reported missing on Sunday near Tustumena Lake on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, which is about 80 miles southwest of Anchorage.

One of about a dozen volunteer pilots who headed out to search for the plane on Monday morning spotted Morris and two children on the wing.

The Alaska National Guard launched a helicopter from Anchorage to rescue and deliver Morris and the kids to a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. 

What happened?

Dig deeper:

Based on interviews with the helicopter’s pilot and rescue crew chief, Ward said it appeared that the plane had landed near a glacier on the partially frozen lake, broke through the ice as it rolled to a stop and then began to sink. It wasn't known if the pilot landed intentionally on the lake thinking the ice was more solid than it was, or whether a mechanical issue forced the plane down.

"If it’s mechanical, then I need to get that aircraft, find out why it happened," Ward said.

The plane’s canvas- or fabric-covered wings acted as a flotation device and kept it from fully sinking, Ward said.

"That’s what saved them," he said.

Morris was able to get the girls out of the plane as it was slowly sinking, officials said, and the girls’ clothes were dry when they were rescued. But Morris got wet and was suffering from hypothermia by the time rescuers arrived.

The pilot’s cellphone also quit working after it got wet, Ward said.