By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Search and rescue teams are on standby waiting for more specific information about a signal picked up near Mossyrock from a missing plane that took off from the Chehalis-Centralia Airport this morning.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said she learned about an hour ago the Cessna appeared to be somewhere in the Mossyrock area.
The twin-engine plane is owned by Chehalis-based Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute and is reportedly carrying the pilot and two passengers.
The Cessna 340 took off from Chehalis about 7:30 a.m. heading for Lewiston, Idaho, according to a spokesperson for the aviation division of Washington State Department of Transportation.
At about 7:45 a.m., the pilot reported to air traffic control one engine was down and they were headed back to Chehalis, spokesperson Nisha Marvel said. They were somewhere between Packwood and Morton at that time, and lost radio contact, she said.
The aviation division of Washington State Department of Transportation is coordinating the air search.
“The weather situation is not too favorable,” Marvel said.
Marvel said two helicopters were flying out over the area. However, Allyn Roe, manager of the Chehalis-Centralia Airport said one local helicopter pilot was in the air – Farm and Forest Helicopters out of Napavine – and they were waiting for a Navy helicopter coming from Whidbey Island.
Brown said just after noon time, the sheriff’s office was waiting for a Navy aircraft to “triangulate” a signal coming from around Mossyrock.
Search teams coordinated by the sheriff’s office are on standby, she said.
“We’re on the ground, waiting to find out where it’s at,” Brown said. “It’s such a large area.”
Brown is asking that anyone who has seen or heard anything that might help to call the sheriff’s office at 360-748-9286.
Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute keeps a handful of planes at the Chehalis airport, to fly surgeons to satellite clinics. At the end of 2007, they were making about 300 flights out of there each year, according to an employee
More later.
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This news story was updated at 12:50 p.m.