ANCHORAGE, ALASKA ? A pilot missing since Monday was found alive Saturday afternoon in a remote southern Alaska bay, in good shape and upbeat spirits, the Alaska National Guard said.

Michael Holman was spotted by Coast Guard crew members in a C-130 transport plane during a training exercise near Homer, said Maj. Chris Kobi, with the National Guard’s Rescue Coordination Center. The crew picked up a distress call the 46-year-old pilot made through his hand-held marine band radio.

The crew was able to see a bonfire Holman built at Dogfish Bay, about 15 miles from Seldovia. He was outside the 4,000-square-mile area where searchers, hindered by wind, snow, rain and fog, had been looking for him.

Holman told the crew he had plenty of food, water and other provisions and was staying inside a cabin. Wind and approaching darkness prevented rescuers from picking Holman up Saturday; the National Guard planned to take him to Anchorage on Sunday.

“I’ve been saying all along we had to be optimistic,” Kobi said. “So many of these cases have very, very strange outcomes, you just can’t write them off.”

Since Holman, of Wasilla, has not been personally interviewed, Guard officials said details remained sketchy about the chain of events since he flew out from Palmer on Monday, headed for Seldovia.

They weren’t sure about the fate of his Maule ML-7 aircraft, though additional reports said that for some reason the plane washed out or was destroyed, Kobi said.

Searchers always held out hope for Holman, an experienced pilot who has flown for United Airlines and who had survival gear on board.