Plane Crash Near Happy Valley Airstrip Leaves 3 Seriously Injured

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A plane crash near the Happy Valley airstrip, north of the Brooks Range, Wednesday afternoon left three people including a child seriously injured, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

NTSB spokesperson Clint Johnson says the agency was informed shortly after 3 p.m. that a Helio Courier, a small plane capable of short takeoffs and landings, crashed on takeoff from an airstrip near a haul road in the area.

North Slope Borough Search and Rescue personnel responded to the crash and medevaced the plane’s occupants, who Johnson said were headed to Fairbanks or Anchorage as of Wednesday evening.

North Slope Borough Search and Rescue officials were not available for comment Wednesday evening, and Johnson did not immediately have a tail number for the aircraft in the crash.