Air Force Reserve pilots on bush-flying course shut off fuel leak at overturned Super Cub

Maj. Adam Pereira and Maj. Steffan Guilbault, Air Force Reserve pilots with the 919th Special Operations Wing, responded to an overturned civilian Super Cub on a remote Alaska river sandbar during the last flight of a bush-flying course, the wing said. Pereira landed and shut off the plane's leaking fuel.

The two were finishing a five-day course in off-airport landings. Each flew a Piper PA-18 Super Cub with a civilian instructor.

Over the radio, a civilian pilot in a larger plane reported the overturned Super Cub about 10 miles away. That plane could not land on the short gravel bar. The Air Force crews reached the site within 10 minutes.

"The pilot in the larger plane did a low pass and said it looked like no one was inside," Pereira said. "We decided it was worth going to check, just in the off chance that somebody was seriously hurt."

Guilbault and his instructor stayed overhead, managing arriving aircraft and keeping in contact with air traffic control.

Pereira landed on the roughly 500-foot bar. Fuel was leaking from the overturned plane, and he reached into the cockpit and shut off the fuel selector, eliminating the risk of ignition, the wing said.

Both crews returned to Anchorage after other civilian aircraft arrived.