PA-18/19 Super Cub
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Confusion; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General Declared Emergency
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Aircraft; Human Factors; Weather
A PA18 established radio contact with Kenai West Side Inflight; IF7 said he was at 4;000 FT; south-southeast bound and his GPS malfunctioned and he requested a steer. I believe the pilot told me after asking that the GPS was the only navigational equipment on board. I told the aircraft to standby and turned to ask if we had a Direction Finder (DF) usable in the SVW area anymore; I was fairly certain we didn't but wanted to verify that fact anyway. At some point the pilot told me he had left SLQ approximately 45-50 minutes prior to calling me heading south-southeast bound. While confirming that we had no DF capabilities in the immediate area I did answer a quick call over LVR requesting Kenai weather and didn't feel that took away from the present situation. After confirming that there was no DF in the area; I informed the aircraft of such and told him ILI does have a working DF and continuing on his present course he should be able to reach them as he got closer and they would be able to give him a steer. Before switching him over to try Iliamna I did tell the aircraft to return to my frequency. The pilot stated something along the line that he had a visual of the ground and would probably figure out where he was at and if not he would check back in with me? At that point I figured the aircraft would use pilotage to find his way and expected him to call back at some point and hopefully soon. Having worked in the remote locations around Alaska and worked with many of the 'Bush' pilots and seeing the equipment and planes they fly I was not immediately overly concerned. The weather was good VFR and the voice inflection of the pilot did not raise any alarm and I took it all was okay and if he had continued on his present heading he would soon be able to talk to Iliamna Flight Service. We checked with Center Sector 5 to see what RADAR coverage they had out over SVW and they said possibly as low as 5;000 FT. I called ILI FSS and relayed to the CIC on duty that the PA18 would possibly be trying to call him for a steer and to please listen for him. Additionally I did pass the approximate location and direction of travel. The aircraft did request Center frequency. Dillingham started talking to the PA18 and information was passed back and forth again; this time the aircraft said he was at 7;000 FT about one hour and ten minutes out of Sleetmute with no GPS and wanted to get a GPS steer. Again they confirmed they had no DF and to try Iliamna. The aircraft also reported his last known position as being over the South Fork of the Hoholitna River with one hour of fuel remaining. Sometime another aircraft started trying and at times talking to the PA18. Another aircraft said the PA18 only had thirty minutes of fuel remaining and was not talking to Iliamna then approximately the other aircraft said the PA18 was talking to Iliamna and then the other aircraft said the aircraft was talking to Center. I made numerous attempts to reestablish radio contact with the PA18 with no luck. I called our contact in Port Alsworth based on what I believe was information from the other aircraft; that the PA18 was talking to them and heading their way. The person I talked to relayed to me she had just heard him on the radio and that he said he was seven minutes out and had plenty of fuel. The only adverse conditions were for mountain obscuration. Overall; I did not feel the aircraft was in a distress situation at the time based on what I heard from the pilot; never did his voice inflection indicate he was worried; the current VFR weather along the route of flight. He stated he would attempt pilotage to figure out his position having no transponder or any other navigational equipment on board. I attempted to transfer responsibility of the situation over to Iliamna based on the known fact they have an operable DF and the CIC at Iliamna was aware of the situation and standing by to assist. The pilot however ended up talking to Dillingham; another aircraft and except for only returning to my frequency once requesting a Center frequency I'm not sure if he actually ever talked to Iliamna Radio; he never answered any of my calls. This event will hopefully not take place again. However; so many of our Bush pilots are flying around strictly via pilotage with no navigational equipment on board and often not even a radio. All of the Alaskan DF will be decommissioned soon; and if this situation happens again and the weather is such that their altitude is restricted not allowing to climb VFR for RADAR coverage I'm not exactly sure what we would do different. As long as the pilot has ground reference and can maintain VFR he could have attempted to return to his starting point; we would/could assist him with any possible points of reference based on local knowledge and Sectional Charts or possibly other aircraft sightings. Pilots also need to keep in contact with one agency or another and not continue switching frequency. Had this pilot returned to my frequency after his attempts at contacting Iliamna and Center; (whether or not the ultimate conclusion have been any different); the service I was trying to provide would at least appeared to be smoother.
Flight Service Controller provided a detailed report on an aircraft with very limited navigational equipment having difficulty with regard to his location.