Snowmobile Riders Search For Plane Missing Since Friday

Searchers aboard snowmobiles pushed into the rugged terrain northwest of Lowman, hoping to find signs of a Piper Comanche aircraft that disappeared Friday night with three people aboard.

With search-and-rescue crews hampered by forbidding terrain and deep snow Saturday, Idaho State Aeronautics searchers sought help from above, but heavy cloud cover made the air search next to impossible, rescue officials said.

The search was called off about 7 p.m. Saturday. Crews planned on continuing the search Sunday.

“People who live in that area say the terrain was really inhospitable, that’s the word most of them use,” said Woody Cummings at the Federal Aviation Administration’s regional center in Seattle.

She said the plane was bound from Jerome to Pullman shortly before 5 p.m. Friday when the unidentified pilot reported to FAA’s Salt Lake Center that he was having “some difficulties” and requested clearance to turn back to try to land at Twin Falls.

What kind of difficulties was not known.

“During that conversation, the center lost contact with the pilot,” Cummings said. “When that happens, we take the stand that we have an accident on our hands.”