8/21/2009
Search team sights wreckage believed to be that of mission motorglider
ARCO, Idaho -- A Civil Air Patrol search team Thursday evening sighted what is believed to be the wreckage of a motorglider that had been missing since the previous afternoon. The Idaho Air National Guard dispatched a helicopter to Arco this morning and will transport a Custer County search and rescue team to the site.
The status of the pilot Thierry Thys, 78, of Oakland, Calif., is not known. He was the owner and only occupant of the sophisticated, high-performance motorglider.
Debris was spotted by air at about 7:50 p.m. Thursday by one of four CAP crews that had been searching grids in central Idaho most of the day. The location is about 23 miles north of Arco and six miles north of the state-owned Copper Basin Airport.
Wreckage was sighted on the northeast slope of a mountainside at an elevation of about 9,250 feet near the tree line. CAP planes had searched the area earlier in the day but were unable to see the wreckage. They discovered what appears to be remains of a fuselage, detached wings and electrical panel shortly before they planned to suspend the search Thursday evening.
The missing aircraft is a 1998 Stemme S10-VT that has a 75-foot wingspan and an engine-driven propeller that folds into the nose once gliding altitude is reached. Manufactured in Germany, the two-seated plane is capable of operating at altitudes up to 30,000 feet.
Thys, a veteran pilot with extensive experience in a variety of aircraft, including experimental planes and helicopters, was part of a group of glider pilots who assembled north of Arco. He reportedly holds or held the distance record for glider planes, and more than a decade ago flew a helicopter that he purchased in Russia across Siberia to Alaska.
Companions reported Thys missing Wednesday afternoon when he failed to return from a gliding excursion. The Idaho Transportation Department's Division of Aeronautics was notified at about 10 p.m. and initiated the search. CAP planes began searching a 250-square-mile area of Butte and Custer counties at about 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
Custer County is responsible for the ground search and rescue efforts.