A pilot and a passenger were found deceased after their small plane lost contact with air traffic control over Okanogan County, prompting a land and air search that continued into Sunday. The aircraft, a 1976 Piper Cub, had been flying from Penticton, British Columbia, toward Grangeville, Idaho, when the pilot lost communication with Seattle Center air traffic control.
How the Search Began
The flight was reported missing Saturday evening after the pilot's daughter called the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office once Seattle Center lost contact with the aircraft, as reported by KREM. The plane was carrying two people — the pilot and one passenger — and had not emitted any detectable emergency locator transmitter distress signal overnight before Sunday's search flights resumed, per Elkhorn Media Group. The flight was from Penticton, British Columbia, to Grangeville, Idaho.
Search and rescue crews combined cell phone forensics with air traffic radar history to narrow the search zone to a corridor between Oroville and Okanogan along U.S. Highway 97, the station's report notes. The search zone covered terrain along that corridor.
Crews Fan Out Across Highway 97 and Aeneas Valley
By Sunday, WSDOT search crews were working near U.S. 97, and air search and rescue teams continued flying over the area. An aircraft followed helicopter flights through the search area, as reported by KREM.
Ground search teams also included specialized resources provided by the Colville Confederated Tribes, working alongside state and local law enforcement, according to Dailyfly News. The Colville Reservation covers significant territory within Okanogan and Ferry counties, underscoring why tribal search resources played a role in this stretch of north-central Washington. Emergency managers asked anyone with potential plane sightings or acoustic tips from Saturday night to call the Washington State Emergency Operations Center hotline at 800-258-5990, while clarifying that public volunteers were not being accepted for land or air searches, the outlet reported.
Why WSDOT Is Leading the Effort
Under Revised Code of Washington 47.68.380, WSDOT is charged with coordinating and managing aerial search and rescue operations in the state, according to WA.gov.
This is not the first time WSDOT has led a multi-agency hunt for a missing light aircraft in Washington's backcountry. In March 2025, the agency coordinated a similar search for a missing Cessna 150 in Kittitas County, drawing on radar forensics from the Civil Air Patrol and helicopter assets from the U.S. Army. That search drew contributions from multiple agencies. Hoodline covered that Ellensburg search as it unfolded, illustrating how the state's protocol has played out before in rugged mountain terrain.
By about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, October 11, crews had located the wreckage and both occupants, who were deceased, and the search concluded Sunday evening. Before the wreckage was found, crews searched Okanogan County by air and ground, including the Highway 97 corridor, according to KOMO.
