Plane With 2 Aboard Missing On Flight From Felts Field

More than two dozen search-and-rescue planes canvassed the Inland Northwest on Sunday for a missing plane carrying a Felts Field flight instructor and a student pilot.

The single-engine Cessna 152 disappeared soon after leaving the Spokane Valley airport on a routine flying lesson Friday afternoon. The plane had about three hours of fuel, giving it a maximum range of 300 miles.

“There’s two souls on board and I’m looking for survivors,” said Jerry Taylor, on scene commander for the Washington Department of Transportation’s rescue effort. “They could not have gotten far.”

The identities of the two men on board the plane were not released.

The airplane is owned by Felts Field Aviation, a company owned by Dave Klau.

The aircraft was last seen flying eastward from Felts Field. The instructor and student did not need to file a flight plan because they were making a local flight.

Additional search teams will join the effort today, Taylor said.

Searchers have been concentrating most heavily on areas in North Idaho and north of Spokane.

Searchers had received no clues either through radio contact or distress signals.

About 140 people and nearly 30 airplanes were involved in the search Sunday in Washington and Idaho, Taylor said.

Pilots with the Washington and Idaho transportation departments, Civil Air Patrol and Search and Rescue were involved in the search.

The Red Cross assisted at the Felts Field base camp.

Anyone with information about the missing aircraft is asked to call officials during the day at (206) 940-9366, or evenings at (253) 854-1089.