Wreckage Of Two Small Planes Found

Searchers on Saturday located the wreckage of a Civil Air Patrol plane that crashed on a flight over the Cascade mountains from Auburn to Yakima. The body of the pilot, the only person aboard, also was recovered.

Meanwhile, searchers in Snohomish County were working to reach the wreckage of another single-engine plane piloted by a Mill Creek doctor that crashed in a rugged area north of Index.

The wreckage of the Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 was sighted shortly after 11 a.m. in the Bumping Lake area near White Pass. The find was made by searchers with the Washington Army National Guard and Civil Air Patrol, said Brian Holmes of the state Department of Transportation’s aeronautics division, which coordinated the search.

“Unfortunately, the pilot did not survive,” Holmes said.

He was identified as Jim Powell, 29, of Kirkland, himself a search-andrescue pilot. His plane disappeared Wednesday on a flight from Auburn to Yakima.

The search had been hampered for the past several days by dense clouds and rain.

Crews on land and in helicopter were working on a plan to remove the body from the crash site, which was in heavily treed, mountainous terrain.

The wreckage of the other plane, also a Cessna 182, was sighted Friday evening in a mountainous area northwest of Index that was not accessible by road. Crews waited until Saturday to try to reach the area.

The pilot, the only person on board, was believed killed in the crash. He was identified as Dr. Lawrence C. Schmidt, 47, of Mill Creek.