12/2/2013
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Search underway in Valley County just outside of Yellow Pine for missing plane
BOISE - A search is underway for a small airplane with five people on board traveling from an airport in Baker City, Ore., to Butte, Mont. The aircraft lost radar and cell tower contact near Johnson Creek airstrip in Yellow Pine, 50 miles northeast of Cascade, Sunday afternoon (Dec. 1).
The BE-36 Beech Bonanza departed Baker City, Ore., after 11 a.m. Sunday, bound for the Burt Mooney airport in Butte, Mont.
An Idaho Army National Guard Lakota helicopter left Boise's Gowen Field today at 10:30 a.m. on its way to the last known transmission, about a mile east of Johnson Creek airstrip. It was forced to return to Boise because of poor weather. A Blackhawk helicopter in McCall will fly to Johnson Creek when weather allows.
The Civil Air Patrol and fixed-wing airplanes from ITD will join in the search when weather allows a safe launch. Track vehicles, ATVs and snowmobiles are being mobilized for a ground search. The Valley County Sheriff’s Department is en route from Cascade to coordinate the ground search.