Plane on Bend-Tacoma flight crashes in SW Washington; Navy helicopter rescues 2

(Update: Pilots identified))

YACOLT, Wash. (KTVZ) – A U.S. Navy helicopter crew searching for a missing plane found and rescued two people whose small plane crashed Monday afternoon on a flight from Bend to Tacoma, the Washington State Department of Transportation reported.

The search crew out of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station found the pilot and passenger Monday night near Jack Mountain, a peak near Yacolt, the agency said. The single-engine plane was unable to maintain altitude while flying from Bend to the Tacoma Narrows Airport near Gig Harbor.

Clark County, Washington Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post emergency officials were notified around 4 p.m. by Portland air traffic control of the possible downed plane, a Piper PA-32 Saratoga with two people aboard, in the area of Gumboot Mountain, on the Clark-Skamania County border, near Sunset Falls Campground.

The plane is registered out of Vashon Island, Washington; The Columbian reported Tuesdasy the two men in the plane were Truman O’Brien and Craig Beles of Vashon Island.

The pilot had alerted Portland air traffic controllers when the plane’s engine began running rough and the aircraft was losing altitude.

Voice and radar signals were eventually lost, the agency said, but the last known signal gave search crews a good target for their efforts. The Navy helicopter searched by air while Clark County sheriff’s deputies initiated a ground search, under coordination by WSDOT.

Deputies and SAR members conducted ground searches used unmanned aircraft systems (drones) to search the area before the SAR helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island arrived.

The SAR helicopter crew located the downed plane around 9:10 p.m. A crew member was lowered to the crash site and confirmed the pilot and passenger had only minor injuries.

The two occupants were taken to North Country EMS station in Yacolt, where they were treated for minor injuries and given food and water, SAR said. They were taken to the sheriff’s office and picked up by a family member. Their names have not been released.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.