Emergency crews searching for missing plane in Eastern Washington

The Washington State Department of Transportation is looking for a plane that went missing from Colville in Stevens County Monday afternoon.

The pilot took off from the Colville Municipal Airport in a private plane at around noon Monday, November 11th, with plans to fly in the area for an hour then returning to Colville. The pilot’s family reached out to authorities when the pilot did not return as scheduled.

No emergency beacon signals or other distress signals were detected or recorded in the area. Two flights, including the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, searched the area overnight and were unable to locate any sign of the plane.

WSDOT Aviation Search and Rescue is leading the search effort and coordinating with area law enforcement. However, weather and visibility issues prompted the agency to conduct only ground searches with Search and Rescue teams out of Stevens and Spokane counties until the weather breaks.

The pilot has been identified as a 67-year-old Colville man flying in his personal Cessna 182 Skylane.

WSDOT  is coordinating and overseeing all aerial and ground search and rescue efforts.

Anyone with information about the plane can contact the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office at: 509-684-2555.