Coast Guard suspends search for missing plane, pilot near Port Angeles
Jan 27, 2021, 11:27 AM | Updated: 5:50 pm
Rescue crews continue to search the waters northeast of Port Angeles for a downed Cessna 170, similar to the one pictured here. (Photo courtesy of USCGPacificNW/Twitter)
(Photo courtesy of USCGPacificNW/Twitter)
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the search efforts for the missing pilot have been suspended. The U.S. Coast Guard reports that rescue crews from the United States and Canada covered an area of 1,170 square miles during their efforts.
#BREAKING #UPDATE As of 4 p.m. Wed., search efforts for the missing pilot have been suspended. Rescue crews from the #US and #Canada covered an area of 1170 sq. miles during their efforts. Full press release forthcoming.
— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) January 28, 2021
Earlier, the U.S. Coast Guard and its Canadian partners had been searching for a missing plane and pilot that went down in the waters off Port Angeles.
The Coast Guard said a Cessna 107A crashed around 5 p.m. Tuesday. A mayday call was relayed to Coast Guard units in Seattle shortly before 5 p.m., and search and rescue efforts immediately started after the report. Crews in helicopters and boats searched the waters overnight, and continued the search during daylight hours Wednesday.
#UPDATE crews are utilizing daylight hours to search the Strait of Juan de Fuca for the missing man or downed aircraft. #USCG air, cutter, and boat crews are running search patterns. We are being assisted by our #Canadian partners and #GoodSamaritans. pic.twitter.com/Lz4R21p5P5
— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) January 27, 2021
One man was reported to be on board the plane, which flew out of Ketchikan, Alaska, with the intended destination of Port Angeles, Wash. According to a release from the U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday, the pilot described land formations he could see and ships that were in the area before the plane went down. The search area was built based on that information from the pilot.
Most of the search had been in the water north and northwest of Port Angeles, up to the international boundary line.
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