Second crashed airplane found in remote Whatcom County
Jul 15, 2015, 8:23 AM | Updated: 12:21 pm
Update
Search crews have located the crash site of an airplane in remote Whatcom County, the second missing plane in the north Cascade region within a week.
The search and recovery of the airplane’s two occupants has been turned over to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.
Robert and Gail Nevalainen, of Minnesota, were on board the single-engine Piper Pacer airplane when it went off radar sometime Saturday evening.
The missing couple, in there 60s, were en route to visit family on Orcas Island before their airplane went missing.
Family members notified authorities of the missing airplane Tuesday.
Search crews were able to track down the crash site with radar coordinates from the airplanes last know location on Saturday. It was found in an area south of Mount Baker known as the Twin Sisters.
Initial reports indicate that the airplane crashed into the edge of a cliff at 6,300 feet.
Original story
A second missing airplane was announced Wednesday morning, four days after it went missing in the north Cascades.
“I have confirmation of a second missing and overdue aircraft that was supposed to land on Orcas Island Saturday,” said Lieutenant Jessica Jerwa with the Civil Air Patrol, the agency that has taken over the search from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.
The plane reportedly had two occupants, a man and a woman, who were on vacation.
“I’m not sure when they took off, they were on a vacation trip in International Falls, Minnesota,” she said.
The airplane went missing Saturday night, the same night that another airplane went missing, also in the north Cascade area.
“They were traveling in the roughly the same mountainous area with the same weather conditions on the same afternoon on Saturday,” Jerwa said.
“It’s actually not that far from our other search area,” she noted.
Related: Bellingham teen survives plane crash, walks out of wilderness
Civil Air Patrol is handling the search, along with other agencies, but it is not sending airplanes to the area.
“We have reliable radar tracking data and we have about a 5 x 5 square mile search area,” Jerwa said. “At this time Civil Air Patrol aircraft has not been sent to that area because it is so small. The Department of Transportation Resources have been tasked to fly over the area.”
This is a developing story. Check back for details.
