(Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

(Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

UPDATE: Search halted for missing pilot

Futile scouring of 1,000 square miles of Strait

PORT ANGELES — U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews suspended their search at 4 p.m. Wednesday for the pilot of a Cessna 170 single-engine plane that went down in rough seas north of Ediz Hook 23 hours earlier, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said the pilot, whose name he said the Coast Guard will not release for privacy reasons, was en route from Ketchikan, Alaska, to William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles when his aircraft went into the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of the international boundary line.

Air and sea assets conducted 22 search patterns, scouring 1,170 square miles before halting their efforts. No sign of the plane was found.

Strohmaier said the pilot was the aircraft’s lone occupant. It does not appear that he is a Washington resident; his parents live in Alaska, he said.

“We don’t have anything at all saying he’s a resident of Washington state,” he said.

“Everything they have points to him being an Alaska resident but we do not have confirmation of that.”

Strohmaier did not know if the pilot was coming to Port Angeles to refuel and fly somewhere else or to visit someone in the area.

“Unless we get further amplifying information, for example, an exact area to search, or if the [Federal Aviation Administration] gives us the exact coordinates and leads us to believe we have an exact site where the downed aircraft might be at, or the individual might have gone to shore, we just don’t know at this time, search efforts of the Coast Guard and other partner agencies have been suspended,” Strohmaier said.

Strohmaier said the pilot issued a Mayday call late Tuesday afternoon that was received by Rite Bros. Aviation of Port Angeles.

The company, based at Fairchild, reported it to the Peninsula Communication 9-1-1 center in Port Angeles, which notified the Coast Guard at 4:55 p.m.

Jeff Well, president of Rite Bros., said he received the pilot’s Mayday call at 4:40 p.m.

“He said, ‘Mayday, Mayday, I’m going down in the water,” Well recalled Tuesday evening.

The pilot did not appear to be familiar with the area, Well said.

“I asked him to say your location, and he didn’t respond.

“I said, ‘Are you east or west of Port Angeles?’

“He said, ‘I’m going down behind a boat pulling a barge,’ and then, nothing else.”

Well said Wednesday morning a local pilot scoured the approximate area where the pilot went down.

“It was 20 minutes before sunset, and the Straits were just a frothy mess,” he recalled.

“The weather conditions and stuff made it real difficult to see anything with the rough seas.

“Just knowing the conditions, it was just frustrating I couldn’t do more.”

Well declined to identify the pilot, saying he has been in contact with the man’s family. He thought they might live in Kodiak.

Well said they told him the Cessna’s GPS tracker gave the southern tip of Vancouver Island as the pilot’s last known location.

Strohmaier said the pilot hugged Vancouver Island’s Inside Passage before traversing the Strait around Victoria.

“The biggest stretch of open water was going from Victoria to Port Angeles,” he said.

Strohmaier said water and air assets were dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the Canadian Coast Guard.

The 87-foot Coast Guard patrol boats Adelie and Terrapin Wednesday morning in 12-knot winds. The Canadian Coast Guard’s 272-foot buoy-laying vessel Sir Wilfrid Laurier also joined the effort.

Helicopters from the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island assisted as well as a Canadian fixed-wing aircraft before the search was called off.

________

Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Sunlight reflects off the skull of Gunther, the California gray whale carcass on display on the pier in Port Townsend. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
The golden hour

Sunlight reflects off the skull of Gunther, the California gray whale carcass… Continue reading

The state is looking to turn Miller Peninsula, a 2,800-acre undeveloped park east of Sequim, into a destination state park with a visitors center, cabins, picnic areas and more. Some locals oppose the move. (Warren Wilson)
Opponents want park to stay day use

State updates plan for Miller Peninsula

Sequim staff plan to send a proposal to the state this month to potentially fund sewer and water lift stations on West Sequim Bay Road using new developments’ property taxes through a Tax Increment Area by Sequim Bay in a 363-acre area. It would require the city to prove that developments in the area wouldn’t happen without the stations. The city council also would have to approve it. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Sequim exploring funding mechanism to incentivize development

City would create district, repurpose tax dollars for lift stations

Fred Rix of Port Angeles, right, looks over floral arrangements with Ann O’Neill, an employee of Angel Crest Gardens of Port Angeles at a temporary stand at First and Race streets in Port Angeles on Valentine’s Day. Rix said he wanted roses for his wife, Wendy Rix, for their 55th wedding anniversary. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Valentine’s roses

Fred Rix of Port Angeles, right, looks over floral arrangements with Ann… Continue reading

Port Angeles-owned Lancashire Heeler “Ki” poses with handler and co-owner Chelsy Pendleton of Utah with their ribbon. Ki placed as Best of Opposite Sex at the 149th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
PA dog places at famous show

Lancashire Heeler wins ribbon at Westminster

x
Nominations open for Community Service awards

Forms due March 25; event scheduled for May 1

Poplars to be removed in spring

Boat Yard expansion part of larger project

Jeffco Aquatic Coalition launches pool survey

Results intended to inform design process

Voters approving all Peninsula school measures

Sequim bond passing with required supermajority

A snow-covered Mount Angeles is seen from Black Diamond Road a few miles south of Port Angeles. While the Peninsula has seen temperatures below freezing this week, a warming trend is expected by this weekend with highs reaching the upper 40s and overnight lows in the 30s. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Winter snowscape

A snow-covered Mount Angeles is seen from Black Diamond Road a few… Continue reading