| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 3:34 am |
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Local News 
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Search for missing pilot moves south Lake Roesiger pilot missing since Saturday flight in vintage plane OLYMPIA – The search for a missing pilot moved from Snohomish County to the southwest corner of the state today.Search teams received tips that Gordon Last, 51, of Lake Roesiger, may have landed his 63-year-old plane in Westport on Saturday, walked into town and then took off to the northeast, said Nisha Marvel, a state Department of Transportation Aviation Division spokeswoman. Last reportedly took off from Harvey Field in Snohomish on Saturday afternoon and hasn’t been seen since. Search teams have focused on Snohomish County and moved to the area between Shelton and Westport today, Marvel said. The search area now covers about 1,900-square-miles covering Grays Harbor County and a small part of Thurston and Lewis counties. Anyone who may have information on the missing plane is asked to e-mail missingaircraft@wsdot.wa.gov or call 360-410-0461 On Tuesday, racing ahead of a storm creeping up on the region, volunteer pilots crisscrossed the sky over Snohomish County looking for clues that could lead them to Last. Last took off alone Saturday afternoon in his 1946 Taylorcraft Taildragger at Harvey Field in Snohomish for a short flight. He didn't return. Last had no emergency locator beacon or transponder on his 63-year-old aircraft. He filed no flight plan. “It's like we are searching in the 1940s,” said Marcus Mann of Everett, Last's cousin. Last's family and friends are hanging on to hope that he will be found safe after three straight days of searches. A volunteer firefighter in Lake Roesiger, Last has strong survival skills, said his girlfriend, Delvia Abila of Snohomish. He had water and a few granola bars, enough to last him a few days, and a warm coat on board, she said. A diesel mechanic, Last has always loved the outdoors, conquering one sport after another. They often went flying together since he got his pilot's license almost two years ago, Abila said. His next big goal has been to get a sailboat and head out to sea, Abila said. Abila, Mann and the missing pilot's brother, David Last of Lake Stevens have kept busy trying to come up with new ways to assist in the search while at the command post on Tuesday afternoon. The small, single-engine plane is painted white with red and gray wing tips. It is so old, they said, to start the engine Last had to grab the propeller by a blade and give it a hard pull to get it spinning. “It's just so much harder with each day that goes by,” David Last said. The brothers grew up flying with their father, he said. It was the logical next step for Gordon Last to get a pilot's license. “He needed speed,” Mann said. Good weather conditions on Sunday and Monday allowed eight volunteer pilots to canvass Snohomish County and beyond. By Tuesday, the searchers were down to pilots in three planes and one helicopter, said Thomas Peterson, state Department of Transportation Aviation Emergency Services Coordinator. The lack of tracking devices on the plane is making the search incredibly difficult, Peterson said. The plane could have traveled up to 280 miles on the fuel it had on board. That's roughly the distance to Spokane. “This is probably as wide open as it can get in a search scenario,” he said. Searchers were counting on tips from people who may have seen Last's plane. Abila also showed rescuers where Last liked to fly. His routes, his flying habits are all being taken into account. A map on the wall at the command post on Tuesday was dark with crisscrossing lines marking where volunteers have looked. They've looked for clues, such as broken tree limbs. When they see something they enter the locations into a global positioning system device. Emergency locator equipment is required on planes that venture into certain areas, Peterson said. Transponders are mandatory for flights in the 30-mile radius around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Because there is no general requirement, many planes don't have emergency tracking equipment, Peterson said. Only about 40,000 out of 300,000 private aircraft in the United States have emergency tracking devices. While some people may underestimate the risk, the high price of this equipment is the bigger factor in a pilot deciding whether to get it, Peterson said. Last's Taylorcraft is the first plane in nearly two years to go missing in Washington, Peterson said. It's typical for state aviation emergency crews to have a couple cases a year. Searches can last more than a week, if the weather cooperates and resources are available. Peterson remembers the last search in July 2007: A woman was flying from Friday Harbor to Auburn. The plane had tracking devices. Searchers found the wreckage just four hours later. If a missing plane is not found, there's a good chance hunters eventually will come across it, Peterson said. Rapidly advancing technology is making it safer to fly and easier to find a missing aircraft, Peterson said. “The point is to take ‘search' out of the ‘search and rescue,' ” he said, Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com. |
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