An inspiring story in this morning's paper: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-alaska-plane-crash-20131202,0,6186816.story#axzz2mKXluQLV

If you are going to crash your plane, do pick a spot near a community like St Mary's. The community responded spontaneously and started evacuation procedures on their own.

More info at Search for answers begins in plane crash that killed 4 in Southwest Alaska

Life in rural Alaskan villages is tough. While there are often many social problems and other issues in villages, people there do pull together when bad things happen. Bush Alaska is very dependent on air travel in small planes, and the accident rate is very high. If you live in the bush long enough you will know someone who dies in a plane crash. In a previous job my wife had to fly out to bush villages about twice a month, and I'm very glad she isn't doing that any more. Even living in Anchorage, I've lost a friend in a helicopter crash.

If you want to get a sense of what Alaska bush flying is like, read "The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska" by Colleen Mondor. She tells it like it is.

Another story on this crash: Village Rescuers Credited...

The mother had to be amazingly resilient. Hats off to her.

Even with so many people involved, I can't imagine rescuing people from a wrecked plane in winter night, presumably in bad weather, would be easy at all.

Take a look at the 1997 crash of Korean Air flight 801 on Guam. Impact was at 1:42AM during a heavy storm. This survivor's story is pretty riveting.

I only recall this crash because I attended a lecture by Dr. Bruce Cairns who was a young MD at Andersen Air Force base on Guam at the time of the crash. He directed care for many of the survivors who were eventually brought to the hospital there. In describing the rescue response Dr. Cairns highlighted the tremendous difficulty of dealing with the darkness, weather, rough terrain, and confusion of the event.