On the evening of December 3, 2007, a LifeGuard Alaska Eurocopter BK 117 left Cordova bound for Anchorage with pilot Lance E. Brabham, 42; flight nurse John Stumpff, 47; paramedic Cameron Carter, 24; and patient Gaye McDowell, 60. The crew failed to make scheduled position updates and the last contact was a non-distress satellite phone call at 5:18 p.m. Severe winter weather—snow, low ceilings and wind gusts—hampered early search efforts in Prince William Sound.

Debris, including the helicopter’s left sliding door, and the body of John Stumpff were found in Passage Canal on December 8. Despite a weeklong search that involved the Coast Guard, Alaska Air National Guard, state troopers and volunteers, no other survivors were recovered and active searching for Lance Brabham, Cameron Carter and Gaye McDowell was suspended on December 10, 2007. An NTSB investigation later concluded the helicopter likely impacted the ocean after the pilot lost visual reference in low ceilings and snow squalls; the report noted this was the pilot’s first Alaska winter season and his first time on that route, and that he had expressed concern about the nighttime over-water flight.

Did anyone in the Cordova or Whittier area have contact with the helicopter that night or additional information about the flight path?