OKANOGAN, Wash. — Search teams were in the air Sunday looking for a missing small plane last reported near U.S. Highway 97 in Okanogan County.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said its air search and rescue unit was notified Saturday evening of a missing 1976 Piper Cub plane.
WSDOT said the pilot and a passenger left Penticton, British Columbia, headed for Grangeville, Idaho, and lost communication with Seattle Center air traffic control.
WSDOT said the pilot’s daughter then contacted the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office to report the plane and its occupants missing.
Air search and rescue teams began searching the plane’s last known radar locations between Oroville and Okanogan, using cell phone analysis to help identify potential search areas. The agency also contacted additional ground search resources from the Confederated Tribes of Colville to assist.
WSDOT said no distress signals were received overnight.
Aerial search and rescue operations are expected to continue until Sunday in favorable weather conditions, with an aircraft following helicopter flights in the search area.
Anyone who thinks they saw or heard the plane Saturday evening, or spotted anything in the area, is asked to call the state emergency operations center at 800-258-5990 with more details. WSDOT said search officials do not need volunteers to conduct aerial or ground searches at this time.
WSDOT said it is charged by RCW 47.68.380 with coordinating and managing aerial search and rescue within the state, working with volunteer search and rescue groups, law enforcement and other agencies, including the U.S. Navy.
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