Clues Needed To Keep Plane Search Going

Rescuers say that without a sign of two downed pilots by Monday, they may call off the massive and so far heartbreaking search for the men and their plane.

On Saturday, 100 to 115 people combed the rugged, heavily forested terrain about 15 miles northeast of Coeur d’Alene where student pilot Tim Morgan and instructor pilot Ed Morrett are thought to have gone down.

Rainy weather, weary searchers and absolutely no sign of the two men or the Cessna 152 are taking their toll.

“We’ve just haven’t found a thing. It’s pretty frustrating,” said Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. “If we had seen something, a glimmer of hope, we’d be right there.”

Ground searchers, many of them volunteers, and Civil Air Patrol planes were concentrating on the area around the defunct Horse Haven landing strip, where witnesses said they saw a plane fly over the runway twice before banking. At the same time, a plane disappeared from air traffic controllers’ radar.

Family members had asked for an expanded search in case the plane at Horse Haven was not Morrett and Morgan’s But ground crews are becoming exhausted as they comb steep, snowy finger canyons. The Air Patrol, meanwhile, is running out of money for fuel and crews.

Sheriff’s Department and Air Patrol officials will meet Monday morning to discuss the future of the search.

Family members could not be reached for comment Saturday.

“There’s a time when it becomes almost fruitless to keep beating the same brush,” a pained Wolfinger said. “But where do you make that call? It’s such a tough question.”