Snowmachines joined aircraft and boats Thursday in the hunt for an air ambulance that vanished Monday evening over Prince William Sound. The ground search is chasing a lead that went nowhere earlier.
A motorist on the Seward Highway reported seeing something Wednesday on Spencer Glacier, although a helicopter search later of the area turned up nothing, authorities said.
But as part of a search effort that hadn't relented one bit despite days of futility, two snowmachiners sent by the Alaska Railroad headed to the glacier Thursday morning to make sure nothing was there, said spokesman McHugh Pierre of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
That's just one way in which the search has expanded beyond Esther Island, the last known location of the BK117 LifeGuard helicopter with a patient and three crew members aboard.
"We're taking every theoretical flight path they may have taken -- turning around and going back to Thompson Pass, or trying to find an exit through the weather to a small community," Pierre said.
The multipronged search involves military, state and private resources, including a Coast Guard cutter in the waters near Esther Island.
The Alaska Air National Guard has been searching since Monday night, when the LifeGuard went missing about 40 minutes into a scheduled 90-minute flight between Cordova and Anchorage.
It's had a C-130 and a Pave Hawk helicopter on the scene since then. The U.S. Coast Guard joined the search Tuesday, launching the 225-foot cutter Sycamore from Cordova early that morning. It's since added a Jayhawk helicopter to what's become a small army of searchers.
The Alaska State Troopers deployed Helo-1 on Wednesday and Thursday. The fleet of small, private aluminum fishing boats from Whittier grew from three to five on Thursday. Volunteer pilots in the Valdez Civil Air Patrol helped for the second straight day. The railroad sent its snowmachines.
"We want to exhaust all opportunities," Pierre said.
The search will continue until the Air Guard's Rescue Coordination Center determines all possible efforts have been made, or until the weather becomes a danger.
"That'll be some days from now," Pierre said -- unless bad weather intervenes.
The first night and first full day of the search was hindered because heavy snow and strong winds grounded helicopters and limited visibility. Wednesday brought some breaks in the clouds, allowing helicopters to take flight and making a visual search possible for the first time.
Pierre said Thursday's weather was similarly favorable.
The LifeGuard was last heard from at 5:18 p.m. Monday. On board were pilot Lance Brabham, 42, of Soldotna; paramedic Cameron Carter, 24, of Kenai; nurse John Stumpff, 47, of Sterling; and patient Gaye McDowell, 60, of Cordova.
Providence Medical Center operates LifeGuard, which leases its aircraft from Evergreen Helicopters of Alaska
