Air Force colonel identified as one of two men missing after small plane plunged into Alaska lake

Air Force Col. Mark Sletten pictured as a lieutenant colonel in June 2021 on Colony Glacier, Alaska. (Kenny Scarle/US Air Force)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Air Force colonel who is director of operations for the Alaska Command is one of two men missing after a small plane crashed into a remote lake, officials said. officials said Thursday.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers and Alaska Command identified the men as Col. Mark “Tyson” Sletten, 46, of Anchorage, and Paul Kondrat, 41, of Utah.

They were aboard a small plane on an instructional flight that crashed Tuesday on Crescent Lake near Moose Pass on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.

Alaska Command, located at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, conducts homeland defense, civil support and security missions. It is part of the United States Northern Command.

A team from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, which includes volunteers from the Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue and Recovery Team, was searching the lakeshore Thursday, the spokesperson said. – Troops spokesman Austin McDaniel in an email. He said the team was using sonar, remotely operated vehicles and trained divers to search for previously identified areas of interest in the lake, which is more than 200 feet deep in some areas.

Two hikers informed police that they saw a plane crash at Crescent Lake, near Moose Pass, Tuesday afternoon.

An Alaska Department of Public Safety helicopter and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife floatplane responded to the scene and found debris on the lake, but no sign of survivors in the water or on the shore.

Moose Pass is about 100 miles south of Anchorage.