Missing Plane Found Crashed Near Vantage, Pilot Deceased

A Yakima woman is dead after the small plane she was piloting crashed in Eastern Kittitas County on Tuesday.

A search for the Cessna Skyhawk 172 began at around 11 p.m. on Tuesday after both the Kittitas and Grant County Sheriff's Offices were contacted by an air traffic controller in Seattle who reported the aircraft had vanished from radar tracking.

The search was suspended at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday due to safety concerns but resumed just after daybreak when the plane was spotted in the area of Whiskey Dick Mountain at around 9 a.m.

Get our free mobile app

"This is an area occupied in part by the Wild Horse Wind Farm near the Vantage Highway down towards the Columbia River," says Kittitas County Sheriff's Office Insp. Christopher Whitsett, who added that the wreckage was located about four to five miles away from the river.

"Our search included a Life Flight helicopter that was able to spot the wreckage of this plane and guide in the ground personnel. They confirmed that the pilot was the only person on board and was deceased, and we've worked with the Kittitas County Coroner's Office to recover the pilot."

Whitsett says the pilot's family has been notified but her name is not being released at this time.

The plane's last known radar location had been reported as being in the Crescent Bar area, but the aircraft's wreckage was found approximately 40 miles to the southwest.

The aircraft had taken off from Yakima's McAllister Field at just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday and was bound for Lake Chelan Airport.

Kittitas County Sheriff's officials say the National Transportation Safety Bureau will investigate the cause of the crash.