On Sunday evening, near Delta Junction, a Fort Wainwright soldier died after the privately owned airplane he was flying crashed.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric C. Corl, 28, of Fairbanks died while en route to Anchorage via MEDEVAC.
Corl, a UH-60 Blackhawk pilot, was assigned to D Company, 123rd Aviation, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright. He joined the Army in June 2004, attended the Warrant Officer Candidate School and UH-60 Aviator Qualification Course at Fort Rucker, Ala. before arriving at Fort Wainwright in February 2006. He had one combat deployment to Iraq from July 2008 to July 2009.
Witnesses told Alaska" href="http://www.ktuu.com/topic/us/alaska-PLGEO100101400000000.topic">Alaska Wildlife Troopers, who were notified of the crash at about 5:15 p.m., that Corl had just taken off in his Piper PA-12 when the engine started making odd noises and quit.
The plane tried to turn back to the runway, but stalled and crashed nose-first into a forested area.
Corl was taken to the Family Medical Center in Delta Junction, where je was stabilized for medical evacuation to Anchorage.
