A private airplane that was heading to Vancouver from Creswell, Ore., was reported missing late Tuesday night.
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee, a single-engine aircraft, had one person on board and was bound for Pearson Field, according to regional Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer. It look off 4:30 p.m. Tuesday from Creswell’s Hobby Field, which is more than 120 miles from Pearson. The pilot didn’t file a flight plan, Kenitzer said.
A Lane County (Ore.) Sheriff’s Office official said that a missing person’s report was being filed for the pilot, but the pilot’s name will not be released until the report is completed, according to the Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Ore.
The Oregon Civil Air Patrol is helping in the search for the aircraft. Wednesday night, there were three aircraft and 15 people, including pilots, observers and base staff, involved in the search, said spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Traver.
The civil air patrol will start a formal search mission Thursday morning at its incident command post at the Aurora State Airport in Aurora, Ore., Traver said.
