Around the state
Refueling tankers play larger role following terrorist attacks
ANCHORAGE -- Alaska Air National Guard's nine KC-135 refueling tankers are playing an increasingly larger role as the U.S. military forces mobilize for combat in central Asia.
The Eielson Air Force Base tankers have been in such demand that 130 of the guardsmen who fly and service them have been ordered to active duty by President Bush.
The Fairbanks-based 168th Air Refueling Wing carries out its strategic mission in daily airborne operations more than 20,000 feet above the ground. The mission can be dangerous because planes must get very close to the tankers during refueling at jet speeds.
"When you're in contact, connected to another airplane, the slightest mistake in either crew's part could result in disaster," said Maj. Bryan White, a part-time guard pilot from Fairbanks.
Since the Vietnam War, tankers have been used to extend the effective range and combat time of bombers and fighters. More recently, as overseas bases have closed, aerial refueling has become ever more important in the effort to project American forces worldwide.
"Nothing moves in the Air Force without a tanker," said Lt. Col. Walt Lunsford, the wing's operation group commander.
One dead, one rescued after boat capsizes near Ketchikan
JUNEAU -- A man died and his wife was hospitalized with hypothermia after their 42-foot shrimp boat capsized, Coast Guard officers said.
Personnel from two other fishing boats, the Nina Fay from Wrangell and the Rio Grande from Ketchikan, helped rescue the woman after hearing a mayday from the Ocean Sunrise, based in Ketchikan, Lt. Stacie Fain said.
Robert Hanscom, 50, skipper of the Ocean Sunrise said early Sunday that the boat was taking on water and he and his wife Terisa, 50, had to abandon ship about 19 miles from Ketchikan. The couple are from Chomley Sound near Ketchikan, the Coast Guard said.
Crew members from the Nina Fay pulled Terisa Hanscom from the water and treated her for hypothermia and shock, then found her husband and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation but could not revive him.
Coast Guard personnel in a rescue boat took over the CPR effort but also were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead, Fain said. The skipper's wife was taken by helicopter to Ketchikan for transfer to a hospital by ambulance.
Boat that lost crewman finds thieves have hit their crab pots
ANCHORAGE -- Fishermen on a crab boat that lost a crewman overboard to a rogue wave Oct. 17 returned to the Bering Sea last week and learned that poachers had stolen king crab from a third of their pots.
The wave, estimated at 45 feet, washed crewman Scott Powell off the 126-foot Exito on Oct. 17 about 100 miles north of Cold Bay. Powell's body was recovered by another fishing boat. Other Exito crewman were injured and left swimming for their lives on the flooded deck.
The damaged Exito abandoned its string of crab pots and made its way to Dutch Harbor for repairs. The crew left a week ago to retrieve its traps but found many empty of red king crab. A thief had clearly stolen catch, tying open the doors so the pots would catch no more crab, said Steve Toomey, the boat's owner and part-time captain.
Deckhands on a crab boat work for a "crewshare," or percentage of the catch value.