Pilot believed to be dead in small airplane crash

Piper PA-24 Comanche. (Photo courtesy: Wikipedia)

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Story Published: Feb 17, 2009 at 1:07 PM PDT

Story Updated: Feb 17, 2009 at 1:07 PM PDT

By Associated Press

TWIN FALLS (AP) - The wreckage of a plane that went missing on a flight to Utah was found Tuesday in southwestern Idaho.

Jim Noland, Elmore County Search and Rescue director, said authorities believe the pilot died in the crash. Noland said the pilot, who was not identified, was the only person aboard the plane.

Mel Coulter, spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department's Division of Aviation, said the plane was found about 10 miles west of Hagerman.

Coulter said the aircraft was flying with another small plane from Caldwell, Idaho, to Centerville, Utah. When the pilot of the second plane noticed his friend was missing, he retraced his route back to Caldwell, hoping to catch sight of the aircraft, but to no avail.

The Federal Aviation Administration Northwest Mountain Regional Operations Center identified the aircraft as a Piper Aircraft PA-24 Comanche, a four-seat, single-engine plane. Search crews used a radar tracking system to find the plane.

Coulter said the plane left the Caldwell Airport between 7 and 8 p.m. Monday, and its last radio contact was around 8:40 p.m., when it was flying at about 1,600 feet.

No flight plan had been filed, Coulter said.

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